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Cubs offense steals the show in Day 2 of intrasquad scrimmages

4 years agoTony Andracki

The general consensus heading into the early days of summer camp was that the Cubs pitchers would be a bit ahead of the hitters.

After all, most of the hitters have only been taking batting practice in cages or off a tee the last few months and have seen very few breaking balls.

But the Cubs have been swinging the bats well in the first two days of intrasquad action.

Saturday’s 3-inning affair didn’t feature any scoring, but there were quite a few hits, including a 2-for-2 day from Víctor Caratini.

Sunday’s scrimmage didn’t take long to see some offense in a 5-inning game that finished in a 4-1 score.

Here were the lineups for the action at Wrigley Field:

AWAY TEAM (white jerseys)

1. Kris Bryant – 3B
2. Kyle Schwarber – LF
3. Javy Báez – SS
4. Jason Heyward – RF
5. Víctor Caratini – 1B
6. David Bote – 2B
7. Albert Almora Jr. – CF
8. PJ Higgins – C

Alec Mills – P


HOME TEAM (blue jerseys)

1. Ian Happ – CF
2. Anthony Rizzo – 1B
3. Willson Contreras – DH
4. Steven Souza Jr. – RF
5. Jason Kipnis – 2B
6. Nico Hoerner – SS
7. Daniel Descalso – 3B
8. Josh Phegley – C
9. Ian Miller – LF

Tyler Chatwood – P


Bryant got the offense going quickly, roping Chatwood’s first pitch into center field for a single. Schwarber followed with a soft liner to left field that hit off the tip of Miller’s glove as he made a diving attempt.

Báez followed with a double inside the first-base line to plate Bryant:

The next batter, Heyward, drove in Schwarber with a broken-bat groundout.

In the 2nd inning, Almora singled to right and a batter later, Bryant walked on a close pitch that drew some good-natured ribbing from the home team, including Chatwood smiling on the mound. (There are no umpires for the scrimmages, so the catchers call balls and strikes and Bryant was confident this pitch was Ball 4.)

Schwarber made it hurt by crushing a liner into the right-field corner for a 2-run triple.

The home team got on the board in the bottom of the 2nd when Souza doubled, Kipnis singled and then Hoerner grounded into a double play to score Souza.

Chatwood went 3 innings, tossing about 45 pitches and striking out 5 of his teammates.

“It was good,” Chatwood said. “I didn’t see [the scrimmage] yesterday. We’re not allowed to stay around and watch the games. It was weird walking up the steps and not hearing anything, but I mean it was also fun to get out there and compete and play baseball again.”

Mills got 7 outs (he got an extra out in his 2nd inning to increase his workload) with about 35 pitches, including strikeouts of Happ and Contreras on curveballs.

“Got a little bit of adrenaline facing some hitters,” Mills said. “Was able to face a couple of hitters at home, just some college guys. There’s actually another pro ball hitter in my hometown. Definitely was good enough to get my work in.

“It’s always a different animal facing guys that [are] the same caliber you’ll face during the season.”

Dan Winkler, Duane Underwood Jr., Rex Brothers and James Norwood each tossed an inning in relief.

Caratini doubled off Norwood in the 5th inning to continue his unofficial hot start to summer camp.

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