Smyly knuckles down, Hoerner walks it off: Cubs beat Mariners in 10
This closely-contested, extra-inning game featured a couple of daring dashes for third base.
Seattle failed to arrive safely, while Cubs pinch-runner Nick Madrigal successfully stole third - then scored the winning run on Nico Hoerner's RBI single, giving the Cubs a 3-2 win in 10 innings Monday at Wrigley Field.
Madrigal pinch-ran as the automatic runner to start the 10th. He thought he picked up on a move, but took off before Mariners reliever Matt Brash started toward the plate. Brash stepped off and threw to third, but Madrigal slid in safely under the tag.
"I thought he was locked into the hitter," Madrigal said. "I had a feeling and just went for it. Once I saw him kind of inside move, I was committed already, I felt like. It's a tough throw, they were shifted over. I just kept going and luckily it worked out."
In the eighth inning, with the Cubs leading 2-1, Seattle's Cooper Hummel swatted a leadoff double. He tried to reach third on a ground ball, though, and was thrown out by shortstop Dansby Swanson. Two similar plays with different results.
"They caught us, the aggressiveness and putting the pressure on the defense worked in our favor this time," Cubs manager David Ross said. "Sometimes it doesn't."
After the game, Hoerner did a clubhouse interview wearing a souvenir store-quality cowboy hat.
"I came in the locker room and Yan (Gomes) just put it on my head and we've got some sort of celebratory hat, I guess," said Hoerner, who delivered the first walk-off hit of his MLB career. "What a great game. It felt significant to win that game, just to know you can beat good teams in close games, do the extra-inning thing. All that matters."
With one out in the ninth, pinch-hitter Jarred Kelenic took Michael Fulmer deep to right field for the game-tying homer. Keegan Thompson came on to keep the Mariners off the board in the top of the 10th.
Some good news from the Cubs' side was a solid start by left-hander Drew Smyly, who allowed 2 hits, 1 run and had 7 strikeouts in 5 innings.
Smyly's spring training was one to forget. Over 16 innings, he allowed 28 hits, 11 earned runs and 6 homers. His first regular-season outing at Cincinnati featured 9 hits and 6 earned runs. He surrendered a go-ahead 3-run homer to former Cubs farmhand Jason Vosler with two outs in the fifth inning.
"If you're trying to decipher a difference between my first game to second game, I was a little more picky, not just being aggressive and attacking hitters, which is what I like to do, get ahead in the court," Smyly said. "To me, that was the biggest difference, the aggressiveness."
During the fifth inning, Smyly struck out the side using his knuckle curve almost exclusively. He coaxed 7 whiffs on 12 swings against that pitch.
"To (catcher) Yan (Gomes) and I in that moment, it just kind of seemed like they didn't want to hit the curve ball, they weren't trying to swing at it until 3-2," Smyly said. "So it was like, 'OK, let's keep showing it and make them swing at it.'"
"Obviously my curve ball's my best pitch, but you've got to keep these hitters off balance. To me, it's kind of getting them in swing mode, getting them on their heels, establishing that you're going to attack and throw strikes and come at them with fastballs. That just makes the curveball better. They start to chase more."
Smyly retired the first 10 batters he faced before Ty France dropped a bloop double in front of Miles Mastrobuoni in right. After a walk and single, France scored on A.J. Pollock's sacrifice fly.
The Cubs answered with 2 runs in the bottom of the third. Ian Happ started with a walk, then the Cubs got three straight hits from the newcomers - Cody Bellinger, Trey Mancini and Eric Hosmer - to take the lead.
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