Bryant's 100th homer just one cause for celebration in Cubs' win
There were a few milestones reached for the Cubs in Wednesday's 13-4 victory over the Miami Marlins at Wrigley Field.
All were cause for celebration.
At least one was cause for relief.
And another provided for some comic relief.
The first was Kris Bryant's home run in the first inning. The homer was Bryant's sixth of the year. It also was the 100th of his career, and it came three years to the day after he hit his first career homer.
"Tough to put into words," he said. "Obviously, it's pretty cool. I knew I was on 99. It feels really good. Anytime you accomplish something - I don't know how many people have done it before - I just feel really dang happy that I got there, and hopefully there's many more. You couldn't script it any better, first home run three years ago and 100. I guess that made it even more special. It's pretty cool. It took me awhile to hit my first one, but pretty cool story that it happened on the same day."
Manager Joe Maddon had the highest praise for Bryant, who moved from his customary third base to right field Wednesday.
"Sky's the limit," Maddon said. "The guy is dedicated, motivated, athletic. He's good. Takes care of himself. Multiple positions. MVP winner who does not care where you put him in the lineup whether it's offensively or defensively. He's kind of the manager's dream."
Before the game, Maddon was talking up shortstop Addison Russell, who came into the game batting .241 with no homers.
Russell then went out and hit his first homer of the season during the Cubs' 8-run third inning. He led off that same inning with a double.
"I have loads of confidence, loads of energy, excited to play every single day," he said. "Just happy to play. I'm glad that he (Maddon) has a lot of support for me, a lot of confidence in me to sent me out onto the field every single day."
First baseman Anthony Rizzo hit a 3-run homer in the third. He also had RBI doubles in the fourth and sixth innings. Believe it or not, the doubles were Rizzo's first 2 of the season.
"It was so fun joking around," Bryant said of Rizzo. "He didn't have a double the whole first month, but he's going to have a great year. He's going to have 30 homers and 100 RBIs like he always does."
The big beneficiary was starting pitcher Jose Quintana, who went 6 innings of 1-run ball to post his team-high fourth victory.
"It's really good when you get support," he said. "You get more confidence every inning, and it's really good when you get that. But my mind is always that it's a 0-0 game, don't relax and try to get deep."
The most important thing for the Cubs was that they swept the Marlins in three games, outscoring them 31-9 to improve to 19-15.
"We talked about it in spring training: energy and enthusiasm," Maddon said. "If we do that, we're going to be fine. If we bring that every day, we're going to play really well on those days."