Cleveland clobbers Chatwood, Cubs 10-1
For the Cubs fans in attendance Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, it had to be more fun remembering the not-too-distant past than watching Tyler Chatwood pitch.
The Cleveland Indians came to town for the first time since the 2016 World Series. On Oct. 30, 2016, the Cubs beat the Indians to pull within three games to two.
They'd eventually go on to win at Cleveland in seven games.
Chatwood's performance completely sucked the life out of the crowd of 37,168 as he lasted just 2⅔ innings, giving up 4 runs while walking 6 and striking out just 1 as the Indians cruised to a 10-1 victory. Of the 74 pitches Chatwood threw, only 30 were strikes.
It's been a wild time for Chatwood in his first year with the Cubs. Of his first 9 starts, only 3 have been quality starts, and he has a walk rate of 7.88 per 9 innings and a WHIP of 1.62.
No trip of the Indians to Chicago will fail to stir memories of the Cubs' first world championship since 1908.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon watched his team go down 3-1 in the World Series, but he said he left the park after Game 5 feeling reasonably good about things after they won 3-2.
"The mindset, I remember it was Halloween, walking out of the ballpark," he said. "I had that freaky suit on, and I know that Theo and Jed (team president Epstein and GM Hoyer) went out there to pass out candy. It was trying to present the right kind of an attitude. But the biggest part about that was (Kyle) Schwarber was going to play, and our pitching was good.
"We had the right pitchers who were going to pitch in those next two games. And we had the DH. That was the one time I was a fan of the DH. Getting his (Schwarber's) bat in the lineup I thought was going to be very important to us at that moment. Kind of hopeful. Kind of felt good about it in a really weird way because it was definitely possible after winning the game here and going over there having to take two. Everything was lined up OK."
Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant, who assisted on the final out of the World Series, said, "2016 was great, but it's a completely different year. We're not really worried about the memories or any of that. We'd love to do it all over again."
Back to the present, the Cubs are going to have to find a way to get Chatwood right. He threw 39 pitches in the third inning, giving up 4 runs, with 3 coming on a homer by Jose Ramirez. Chatwood walked three in inning. Maddon said Chatwood has good stuff, but it's a matter of harnessing it.
"It's really frustrating because one at-bat, I'll feel really good and then the next one I'm fighting myself," said Chatwood, who is 3-4 with a 3.74 ERA. "I think it's just more frustrating that I'm putting us behind against a guy like (Trevor) Bauer, the way he's throwing the ball right now."
Reliever Mike Montgomery wasn't much better as he allowed 6 hits and 6 runs in 2⅓ innings.
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