Chicago Cubs adept at adapting to Wrigley's fickle nature

The capricious nature of Chicago weather and how it affects play at Wrigley Field reared its interesting head again Saturday.

The Cubs and Washington Nationals basked Friday in a game-time temperature of 73 degrees and a friendly southwest breeze of 9 mph.

On Saturday, a hawkish north wind of 23 mph returned, bringing with it a game-time temperature of 51.

The ball carried Friday, to the tune of a combined 6 home runs between the two teams.

On Saturday, the sky was where fly balls went to die, as only 1 homer was hit, a wind-defying blast into the left-field bleachers by the Cubs' Kris Bryant in the fourth inning of an 8-5 victory over the Washington Nationals. The Cubs had 3 sacrifice bunts, tied for the most by any team in a game this season.

"Driving down here, it was difficult driving." said Cubs manager Joe Maddon. "Up Clark (Street) toward the ballpark heading into the wind. It's beautiful going from yesterday to today, and you're expecting an entirely different kind of a game. It's like no other place. There's no other ballpark I've been involved with anywhere that can change so dramatically from day to day. But that's what it is, and it's a beautiful thing."

Managers who have come and gone have said that they need almost two kinds of teams at Wrigley: one that can slug and one that can play small ball.

Maddon seems to be getting the best of both worlds, as his Cubs appear to be adept at playing in all conditions.

"I think what happened this year is that we've been more contact oriented, which I think you need here," he said. "You can still puncture the wind once in awhile, but you've got to be able to move the baseball and force the defense to play and execute, and we've done that. That's part of what we got done in spring training. I've seen a lot of that coming out of camp. That's got to be something you want to continue moving forward. It's definitely a different thought process, game in progress."

The stats site fangraphs.com bears Maddon out. Last year, Cubs batters led the major leagues with 1,518 strikeouts. Their strikeout rate was 24.5 percent, and their walk rate was 9 percent.

The Cubs entered Saturday third from the bottom in the National League in strikeouts. Their strikeout rate was 19.4 percent, and the walk rate was 13 percent.

Not quite sharp:

Cubs starting pitcher Jason Hammel lasted 5 innings Saturday, giving up 4 hits and 3 runs while walking four and striking out three. He said his fastball command was lacking.

"I went back and watched a little video," he said. "Small fix, but I have to get back to the fastball command. Over the last couple games it hasn't been sharp. The secondary pitches are what has been getting me through these games. So that's a plus. Last year, I wasn't able to throw those secondary pitches for a strike in the second half."

Cubs starting pitchers have pitched through the fifth inning in the last 37 regular-season games dating to Sept. 27 of last season. That's the team's second-longest stretch since at least 1910.