Spring Training Game One – Cubs 1, Brewers (ss) 2
WP – Chase Anderson (1-0) LP – Travis Wood (0-1) Save – Junior Guerra (1)
The Cubs were shut out for the first six innings and managed just one run on seven hits on the afternoon as Maddon’s spring team dropped the first game of the Cactus League schedule.
Dan Vogelbach (1-for-3 with a double and a RBI) went opposite field in the seventh inning with two down. And Vogelbach’s ground rule double plated Kris Negron (1-for-2 with a run scored and a stolen base) with the Cubs lone run of the game.
Kyle Schwarber (1-for-3), Kris Bryant (1-for-2), Miguel Montero (2-for-2) and Anthony Rizzo (0-for-2) collected four of the Cubs’ seven hits. Joe Maddon emptied his bench in the fifth inning.
The Brewers scored single runs in the first off Travis Wood and in the third against Kyle Hendricks. The Cubs bullpen did not allow Milwaukee to tack on, but the Cubs offense could not string together any hits against the Brewers’ staff.
Javier Baez got the start in center field Thursday and had a rough time in the outfield. As the old cliché goes, the ball found him. Baez misplayed the first hit of the game by Jonathan Villar, a deep fly off the center field wall, into a triple. Baez hesitated before making an offline throw to the plate on what went as a sac fly off the bat of Colin Walsh that plated Villar with the game’s first run. And Baez dropped a fly ball off the bat of Jonathan Lucroy that should have been the second out of the inning.
Travis Wood had a solid first outing of the spring. Baez’s misplays in center helped the Brewers score a run while Wood was on the mound. Wood faced eight batters over two innings and was charged with one run on one hit (a triple). Wood did not walk a batter and struck out two.
Kyle Hendricks pitched two innings Thursday. Hendricks gave up a leadoff double to the first batter he faced in the third inning. And a soft single to left off the bat of Jonathan Lucroy with two down that accounted for the only run he allowed. Hendricks also faced eight batters and gave up one run on two hits with no walks and four strikeouts in two innings.
Clayton Richard struck out two of the four batters he faced in the fifth. Richard gave up a one-out double to Jacob Nottingham, but that was all off the lefty.
Rex Brothers pitched a scoreless sixth inning. Brothers issued a two-out walk and struck out two batters. C.J. Riefenhauser replaced Brothers in the seventh and hung a zero on the board with a 1-2-3 inning. And Spencer Patton completed a 1-2-3 eighth inning.
Cubs’ pitching allowed two runs on four hits with a walk and 13 strikeouts.
The offense could not get on track in the first game on the spring schedule. The Cubs scored one run on seven hits with a walk and struck out nine times.
The Cubs host the Angels in the spring opener at beautiful Sloan Park on Friday afternoon (2:05pm CST). Pierce Johnson is scheduled to face Jered Weaver.