Fukudome's HR sends Cubs over Reds 3-2
CINCINNATI - You've heard all the puns about a "Starlin being born" May 7, when the Cubs' Starlin Castro made his major-league debut at the Great American Ball Park.
All he did that warm Friday night was hit a 3-run homer in his first at-bat and a 3-run triple in his third at-bat.
"Actually, the way he started was pretty good," deadpanned hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo on Saturday before the Cubs beat the Reds 3-2. Castro was 0-for-4.
Of course, the 20-year-old Castro wasn't going to keep up that early pace, and he didn't as his batting average sunk to .265 just before the all-star break.
But Castro did what all good hitters do - he made the adjustments at the plate - and his .311 batting average would have put him sixth in the National League if he were not 4 plate appearances shy of qualifying for the leaderboard.
So far, it's been mostly good for a rookie who came up with a lot of hype.
"I give that kid a lot of credit because he made a lot of adjustments along the way," Jaramillo said. "I know at one point he got down to like .269, and I was really concerned with him, what he was going to do.
"First year at the big-league level, been here a couple of months. And he made that adjustment, and he keeps making adjustments."
Jaramillo explained how it has worked.
"Early in the season, he was getting a lot of fastballs," the coach said. "All of a sudden, he started getting a lot of breaking balls, changeups and whatever.
"He was going to swing at the first, second pitch. I said, 'No, no, no, we've got to work through this.' And then he started hitting some breaking balls with men in scoring position, and changeups.
"You know the old saying, you go back and forth, cat and mouse, with the pitcher, and that's what he's done in the games.
"He works hard. The thing I like about him is he has feel when he 's late, so he can make that adjustment the next pitch. And he understands more and more about his mechanical part of the game."
Of course, there are two sides to the game, and Castro has had his ups-and-downs in the field. He has a team-leading 20 errors, and he has had some trouble getting tags down at the second-base bag.
"You see a few blips," said bench coach Alan Trammell, who works with the infielders along with third-base coach Ivan DeJesus. "You're going to.
"In my estimation, he's still another season away defensively, for sure. You're going to see great stuff, but you're going to see blips.
"I think we all lose sight of the fact that he's 20. Next year he'll be 21 for a full year. That ain't so bad. I'll take it. I enjoy working with him. There are going to be some moments. That's just a fact."
<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Bruce Miles' game tracker</b></p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Cubs 3, Reds 2</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Wells better: Cubs starter Randy Wells improved to 6-12 with a 4.50 ERA with 6 innings of 6-hit, 2-run ball. He says he's auditioning for a job next year. "For sure," he said. "It's no secret. We've got some young guns coming up. Look at my numbers. It makes me want to throw up every time I look at them." Wells snapped a five-game losing streak.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Tying the mark: Kosuke Fukudome's homer was his 11th, tying his single-season best with the Cubs, set last year. He has hit safely in six of seven games.</p>