Using the pitcher friendly Petco Park to his advantage, Travis Wood pitched a great ball game on Saturday night, as the Chicago Cubs defeated the San Diego Padres by a score of 3-2. Wood pitched to contact effectively throwing 7.1 strong innings, allowing 3 hits and 2 walks, with only 3 strikeouts.
The offensive star for the Cubs was 3rd baseman Luis Valbuena, who went 2-for-2 with a homerun, single, and two walks. Valbuena also scored the first run of the game, when he crossed the plate on a one-out single by Nate Schierholtz in the top of the 4th inning. Valbuena has been great for the Cubs so far this season hitting .265/.386/.453. He has shown incredible plate discipline and some solid power out of his bat. On a team full of young players, Valbuena is proving to be an important veteran influence.
After the Valbuena homerun in the top of the 6th inning, Wood helped his cause with a single to left that scored Schierholtz, a run which ended up being the winning tally. Wood handles the bat very well for a pitcher, as he is now hitting .211 this season, with an impressive .421 slugging percentage. On a night where Junior Lake, Anthony Rizzo, and Starlin Castro each went 0-4, it is nice to see the Cubs get enough runs on the board to win the ballgame.
Heading into the 8th inning, the Padres had not even threatened to score a run off of Wood. That was when he allowed Yasmani Grandal to reach on a one-out walk before Carlos Quentin hit a deep homerun to left-field, and that would be the end of Wood’s night.
Manager Rick Renteria went with the talented Neil Ramirez to finish the inning for Wood. Ramirez has been very impressive this season out of the bullpen using his mid-to-high 90s fastball, and a slider with incredible downward movement. Ramirez struck out both Everth Cabrera and Cameron Maybin to end the inning.
After starting the season in the minors, the 24-year-old Ramirez is showing a ton of potential at the back of the Cubs’ bullpen. While it is a small sample size, Ramirez has struck out 18 batters in only 10.2 innings of work, with a miniscule ERA of 0.84. Ramirez is showing incredible stuff in middle relief, and appears to have a very bright future ahead of him.
Closer Hector Rondon came in to close the door in the 9th with a quick and easy 3-up, 3-down inning. Rondon is another hard-throwing RHP who is showing a ton of promise in the Cubs’ bullpen. He has an ERA of only 1.59, his WHIP is 1.06, and he has saved 6 games in only 7 chances. This bullpen is quickly becoming very impressive for the Cubs.
The Cubs have won 5 of their last 7 games to improve their record to 18-29. This is not a team that is ready to compete, but they are showing some nice promise so far this season. The Cubs will turn to Jason Hammel as they look to take 3 games out of 4 against the Padres tomorrow afternoon. First pitch will come at 4:10 ET.