Cubs complete crazy comeback on a special Sunday night
Once again, if the art of fiction isn't dead, the Chicago Cubs went a long way toward killing it off.
In a game more fit for the Twilight Zone rather than ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, the Cubs came back from a 6-0 third-inning deficit to beat the Seattle Mariners 7-6 in 12 innings.
Where to even start?
The game ended with Jon Lester, a starting pitcher, pinch-hitting and bunting Jason Heyward home from third base to score the winning run.
Before that, manager Joe Maddon did things like using pitcher Travis Wood out of the bullpen and then putting him into left field, where he made a catch while crashing his back into the wall. Wood went back into the game to pitch later.
In addition to Wood, Maddon used these players in left: Chris Coghlan, Matt Szczur, Ben Zobrist and Willson Contreras, who started the game at catcher and made a sliding catch in left.
"You got guys all over the place doing different things that they're not used to and playing all over the map," Lester said. "Joe does it again. You kind of sit there sometimes and scratch your head, and it seems to always kind of work out at the end. So it was good."
The Cubs got behind in the first place because they decided to give a spot start to veteran left-hander Brian Matusz, who came up from Iowa. The idea was to slot a sixth pitcher into the rotation to give the other five starters a break.
It didn't work out, as Matusz gave up 2-run homers to Nelson Cruz, Robinson Cano and Dae-Ho-Lee in each of the first three innings, respectively.
The Cubs got great bullpen work, beginning with Carl Edwards Jr., who struck out five of the six batter he faced. Six relievers followed Edwards, including former closer Hector Rondon, who got the win with 2 innings at the end.
Meanwhile, the Cubs chipped away, scoring 2 in the fifth, 1 in the seventh and 3 in the ninth to tie it.
Heyward led off the 12th with a double high off the wall in right-center. He went to third on a flyball by Contreras and slid home on Lester's bunt.
"That's what we talked about in BP (batting practice) today," Heyward said, just kidding. "It's just fun to watch ourselves as players, everybody contribute, everybody want to be involved. You feel bad if you're not involved in the game."
Scouting report
Cubs vs. Miami Marlins at Wrigley Field
TV: WGN Monday; Comcast SportsNet Plus Tuesday; Comcast SportsNet Wednesday
Radio: WSCR 670-AM
Pitching matchups: The Cubs' Kyle Hendricks (9-7) vs. Adam Conley (7-5) Monday at 7:05 p.m.; Jason Hammel (10-5) vs. Jose Fernandez (12-5) Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.; John Lackey (8-7) vs. Tom Koehler (8-8) Wednesday at 1:20 p.m.
At a glance: The Marlins are battling to stay in the National League wild-card race. They took three of four from the Cubs at Miami in late June. Ichiro Suzuki comes to town 2 hits shy of 3,000 for his career. Martin Prado entered Sunday with a line of .327/.379/.438 with 5 homers and 43 RBI. Giancarlo Stanton had 22 homers and 60 RBI while batting .243. Christian Yelich was at .320/.396/.490 with 10 homers and 57 RBI. Fernandez is a tough pitcher. He has struck out 13.18 batters per 9 innings with a strikeout rate of 36.8 percent. The Cubs entered Sunday leading the NL in on-base percentage (.345) and ERA (3.24). The Marlins were first in batting average (.272) and seventh in ERA (3.91).
Next: Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum, Friday-Sunday
- Bruce Miles