Wisdom powers up as Cubs win series against Dodgers
Patrick Wisdom is living his dream right now, but he also knows one bad slump could make it go away.
It happened before. The Texas Rangers brought him in to start at third base in 2019, but after hitting .154 in April, he was sent to Triple A and didn't return to the majors until he joined the Cubs.
After setting the Cubs' rookie home run record in 2021 at 29, Wisdom is showing there is still room to improve. The Southern California native homered for the third straight game Sunday, leading the Cubs to a 3-2 victory and series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Heading into this series, the Cubs had lost 10 straight to the Dodgers. This was their first series win at Dodger Stadium since 2014.
Wisdom and former Dodger Cody Bellinger hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning to put the Cubs up 3-1. As of Sunday afternoon, Wisdom ranked second in MLB in at-bats per home run, behind the Mets' Pete Alonso, at 7.83.
"It's just going out there and swinging at my pitches, and putting controlled swings on it, looking for things in my zone," Wisdom told reporters after the game. "The staff here has done a good job of putting my blinders on to just that, stay in your zone."
Wisdom has shown he can hit for power. But he led MLB in strikeout rate last season at 34.3%. So far this year, he's at 30.8%, which ranked 21st as of Sunday, a nice improvement.
"The thing that is standing out to me right now are the hard line drives to center," manager David Ross said after the game. "Even when he's beat a little bit, the bat's in the zone a really long time. He's in long at-bats. He just seems to continue to be getting better and I think it's a great sign for us."
Wisdom provided the Cubs' only offense Saturday night. He homered in the fifth inning and the Cubs headed to the bottom of the ninth with a 1-0 lead, but reliever Michael Fulmer gave up a two-out, 2-run single to pinch-hitter David Peralta and the Dodgers won 2-1.
Fulmer returned to the mound Sunday and tossed a perfect eighth inning to protect a 1-run lead. Fulmer warmed up before the ninth inning, but when the Dodgers announced the left-handed hitting Peralta as a pinch-hitter, Ross went to the mound and brought in Brad Boxberger. Left-hander Brandon Hughes, who just returned from the injured list, was also warming up.
Boxberger earned the save by getting called third strikes on Peralta, Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman. The Cubs definitely caught breaks on the last two calls, which were both out of the zone. With two outs, Mookie Betts reached on an infield single.
There was another bullpen highlight in the seventh inning when Mark Leiter Jr. struck out Max Muncy with the bases loaded to end the inning. Adbert Alzolay started the frame with a strikeout, walk and single, then Betts looped a fly ball to right field that Seiya Suzuki lost in the sun and let drop.
It would have been a sacrifice fly anyway, but while cutting the deficit to 3-2, the Dodgers had runners on first and second with one out. Leiter came on and struck out Freeman, before an infield single to deep short loaded the bases.
The bullpen made a winner out of Drew Smyly, who allowed 1 run and 4 hits in 5⅔ innings.
"I don't want to give away the game plan, I have to turn around and face them again in five days," Smyly said. "But the plan was to just be very aggressive in the zone. This team is obviously super talented and they're very disciplined. They're known to not really chase much and make pitchers work.
"So my mindset was let's just to come out and as aggressive as can be, try to get strike one, strike two, keep them on their heels. If they're ready to swing, they'll let us know that early on in the game."
The Cubs' West Coast trip continues with three games in Oakland starting Monday.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports