Monday Morning Baseball: Yankees beat Cubs in 18
Sunday Night Baseball? How about Monday Morning Baseball?
The Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees played 6 hours and 5 minutes Sunday night into Monday morning, with the Yankees prevailing 5-4 in 18 innings. The Cubs had rallied for 3 runs in the bottom of the ninth inning against their World Series teammate, Aroldis Chapman. That rally tied the game at 4-4. The tying run came when Chapman hit Anthony Rizzo on the left forearm with a pitch, forcing in the run.
Rizzo stayed in the game but later had an X-ray, which initially revealed no fracture.
This game had it all. The two teams combined for 48 strikeouts, the most in major-league history. This was the longest interleague game in major-league history by innings. The Cubs used three pitchers to pinch hit: Jake Arrieta, John Lackey and Kyle Hendricks. Outfielder Jason Heyward was not available because of a knuckle injury.
"A crazy game," said manager Joe Maddon, whose defending world champions fell to 16-15 as they got swept in three by the Yankees. "It would have been nice to have won it. We lost two crazy games against these guys on this homestand. What are you going to do, man? Just move it forward.
"It was incredible thing to watch. It was just frustrating, exasperating. But you've got to play tomorrow night."
The Cubs were getting set to fly to Denver in the wee hours of the morning.
As for Rizzo, he said he was OK.
"Luckily it's nothing significant," he said. "I thank my parents I drank my milk when I was a kid. I have some decent bones.
"It's just one of those games where I know we lost, but you've got to try to have fun with it - 18 innings, both sides. We didn't win. We came back in the ninth, which shows us who we are again. We lost."
Javier Baez fouled a ball off his foot but stayed in the game.
The game also featured a highlight-reel fielding play by Kyle Schwarber, who caught Chase Headley's foul fly and tumbled into the stands. Schwarber was OK.
"I'm going to play hard and try to make every catch," he said. "I guess I just stuck the glove out and it went in there. If you're going to be aggressive, there's never going to be a question. You're never going to get questioned about the effort or something of that nature. If you're going 100 percent, you never know what can happen. Good things can happen. And a good thing happened."
Maddon was impressed.
"How about that play?" he said. "It was very Derek-esque (Jeter). Great play. I"m just worried about him hitting the wall. That's all I was worried about. Of course you'd like to see the guy make the play, but you also want to see him walk back to his position. Tremendous play."
The Cubs had been struggling with their starting pitching, but not Sunday.
Jon Lester did all he could do - and then some - to will the Cubs to a possible victory.
The ace of the Cubs pitching staff worked 7 innings and threw a season-high 120 pitches, allowing 3 hits and 2 runs, 1 earned. In doing so, he became the first Cubs starting pitcher to work at least 7 innings since he did so on April 16.
The Cubs are going to need more of that, and Maddon knows it.
"Starting pitching drives the engine, for me," he said before the game, repeating a familiar refrain of his. "When you're doing that right, everybody else has a better opportunity or chance. Defense gets bigger. Contact is not as hard. Hitters don't have to battle from behind all the time. There's more pressure on the other side. All those things are interconnected. As we pitch better, we'll play better."
The Cubs still managed to fall behind as the Yankees scored a run in the first inning. In first innings this season, the Cubs have been outscored 41-21.
Things got bad on the back end of the game for the Cubs. They tied it at 1-1 in the third on a home run by Javier Baez. The Yankees scored an unearned run against Lester in the seventh as Kris Bryant's throwing error put Starlin Castro on second base to lead things off. Aaron Judge followed with a triple over the head of center fielder Jon Jay, but Lester gutted his way through the rest of the inning.
Justin Grimm, fresh off his recall from Class AAA Iowa earlier in the day, gave up a 2-run homer to Jacoby Ellsbury in the eighth.
Cubs batters didn't do much in this series until the ninth.
"Great comeback," Maddon said. "Listen, incredible game. Jonny Lester was really, really good. So was their kid. The starting pitching was really good. To come back and get those (runs) against Aroldis, bully for us. That was some really great at-bats right there culminating in a hit by pitch. That's not easy to do, to get 3 runs against that fella under these circumstance.
"For the most part, man, epic strikeout performance. Their pitchers are good, but we have to do better than that at the plate. We have to make adjustments. We were not making adjustments."
Scouting report
Cubs vs. Colorado Rockies at Coors Field
TV: Comcast SportsNet Monday and Wednesday; WGN Tuesday
Radio: WSCR 670-AM
Pitching matchups: The Cubs' Jake Arrieta (4-1) vs. Antonio Senzatela (4-1) Monday at 7:40 p.m. John Lackey (2-3) vs. Kyle Freeland (3-1) Tuesday at 7:40 p.m.; Kyle Hendricks (2-1) vs. German Marquez (0-2) Wednesday at 2:10 p.m.
At a glance: The surprising Rockies lead the NL West. Before a 9-1 win Saturday over Arizona, the Rockies were in first place with a negative run differential. They were at plus-4 entering Sunday. Mark Reynolds entered Sunday with a line of .315/.375/.639 with 10 homers and 26 RBI. Nolan Arenado had 8 homers and 21 RBI, and former Cub DJ LeMahieu had a line of .282/.364/.368. The Rockies have played better on the road, going 11-5 compared with 8-7 at home entering Sunday. The Cubs were 2-4 against the Rockies last season, 1-2 at each ballpark. Arrieta is 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA in 3 career starts against the Rockies.
Next: St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, Friday-Sunday
- Bruce Miles