Bellinger stays hot, lifts Cubs to late-inning win in Oakland
There weren't many "high risk, high reward" moves in MLB that would top the Cubs signing Cody Bellinger.
He was National League MVP in 2019 with the Dodgers, then hit .210 and .165 the past two seasons. Thus, his availability to sign a one-year deal with the Cubs.
Bellinger's tenure on the North Side has already been hilly. During the opening series against Milwaukee, he went 0-for-11 at the plate. On April 9 after the Texas series, his batting average was .167.
In the seven games since then, Bellinger has hit .464 and had the first 5-for-5 game of his career during Monday's win at Oakland.
Both teams struggled to muster much offense in Tuesday's game. Bellinger finally delivered an RBI single in the top of the eighth - the start of a 4-run rally - and the Cubs won 4-0, clinching their fourth straight series win.
The eighth inning began with a Seiya Suzuki walk and Patrick Wisdom double. After Bellinger's single, a second run scored on Yan Gomes' ground out. Nick Madrigal's single scored Bellinger, then Madrigal raced around to score when right fielder Conner Capel couldn't catch Nico Hoerner's sinking liner, which was scored an error.
This seemed to be a favorable pitching matchup for the Cubs with Marcus Stroman on the mound. He faced Oakland left-hander Ken Waldichuk, who piled up a 10.30 ERA in his first three outings. The Cubs started the night hitting .328 against lefties, but Waldichuk got through 5 scoreless innings.
Stroman labored a bit, needing 100 pitches to complete 6 scoreless innings. But he allowed just 2 hits, retired the last 14 batters he faced and lowered his ERA on the season to 0.75. Relievers Mark Leiter Jr., Michael Fulmer and Michael Rucker completed the 2-hit shutout.
On Monday the Cubs pounded out 20 hits, including 2 home runs by Wisdom. With 8 homers in the first 15 games, Wisdom joined an exclusive list of Cubs to accomplish the feat - Gabby Hartnett (1925), Hank Sauer (1954) and Lee Walls (1958).
"We're rolling," Bellinger said after Monday's game. "Up and down through our lineup, there's not a weak spot. I think we saw it in spring training, and now that we're all coming together every day, we're having a good time."
The other good sign from Monday's contest was starting pitcher Hayden Wesneski's best outing of the season. He threw 7 innings, allowing 1 run, 5 hits, no walks, with 7 strikeouts.
The statcast breakdown of Wesneski's pitch mix told the story of how important his sweeper is to his success. According to baseballsavant.com, opponents are hitting .111 against the sweeper this season, compared to .500 against the four-seam fastball.
"I probably didn't throw one slider for a strike in the (first) two outings," Wesneski told reporters after the game. "As somebody that's like, 'That's my pitch,' I need to have that. It sets everything else up.
"Yes, I threw it more today because I actually had feel for it today. I know it's my best pitch. To get ahead, to put away, it doesn't matter, I need to be able to set all my other pitches up with that one."
Wesneski has used the sweeper and four-seam close to equal amounts this season. He cut back on using the cutter Monday
There were reports the A's plan to call up prospect Mason Miller to start Wednesday's series finale against the Cubs. Miller averaged 100 miles per hour on his fastball during his most recent start in Triple A.
Miller also followed an unlikely path to the big leagues. The Pittsburgh native spent four years at Division 3 Waynesburg (Pa.) University, then transferred to Gardner-Webb before being drafted by the A's in the third round in 2021. The right-hander has pitched just 28 innings in the minors.
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