Cub Tracks shows signs of life

Here at CUB TRACKS NEWS AND NOTES™, we like to keep things brief on the principle that it makes us appear wise. We don’t always, but we like to. Perhaps this will mushroom into a trend.

To make a long story short:

Matt Duffy and Jake Marisnick occupied the pine at gametime but they must have loaned out the contact bats a la Matt Szczur, or it really is true that hitting is contagious. Trevor Williams started, threw four innings, allowed two earned runs, threw 80+ pitches in that span. Nick Martini pinch-hit for him, and never returned as David Bote was picked off of second base, with the pitcher due up. They both entered the game late and Duffy put his stamp on the game as it became a battle of bullpens.

Keegan Thompson, who also plays first base, was summoned, induced some contact, kept his team in the game, threw strikes, and is beginning to look like a keeper. I wonder if the butterflies were eagle-big again, inside. If so, he did well in concealing them.

Wil Crowe did his level best with a quality start for the Pirates. Sam Howard relieved in the seventh and allowed the lead run to score via Duffy’s bat.

Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth — by now you know what happened. Al’s recap has even more details. Five in a row. Fly the meatloaf high! The Cubs have won seven of nine.

As always, * means autoplay on, or annoying ads, or both (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. (In the comments section, use @ before and after your remarks @ to produce sarcasm font. In the text body. It doesn’t work in the headlines.)

• John J Kim (Chicago Tribune* {$}: Photos: Chicago Cubs 3, Pittsburgh Pirates 2.
• Maddie Lee (NBC Sports Chicago*): Zach Davies ‘totally different guy’ in win vs. Pirates. “That barehand play was pretty legit,” David Ross said. “I don’t know that I’ve seen a play like that in a while.” Sahadev Sharma {$} adds on.
• Maddie Lee (NBC Sports Chicago*): A conversation with Rex Brothers made Ross a ‘better’ manager. “... when Ross told Brothers last year that the Cubs were sending him down to the alternate training site, their conversation altered the way the manager thought about “how to talk to players.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Craig Kimbrel is available again as the Chicago Cubs go for 5th straight win against the Pittsburgh Pirates. “There’s a big competitive advantage to how much I tell you guys,” Ross said.
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Duffy plays hero in Cubs’ 5th straight win. “... he has played a role in reshaping Chicago’s offense.”
• Tommy Birch (Des Moines Register* {$}): Why a Cubs infielder made his professional debut in Triple-A. “I don’t think it really hit me until I was sitting on a plane and we touched down in Iowa,” Matt Burch said.
• Bradford Doolittle (ESPN+ {$}): MLB stock watch: One good thing — and one not-so-good thing — about your favorite MLB team so far. “.,. they’ve recovered from the woeful start to still be a middling club capable of winning a weak division.”
• Dave Plier (WGN Radio 720): Broadcast pioneer Beth Mowins, new Marquee Network play-by-play announcer for your Chicago Cubs. [AUDIO]
• Rosemary Sobol (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Chicago police marine sergeant accused of accepting bribe from diver known for saving Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo’s ring from Belmont Harbor, and another officer falsified report, chief cop says in filing. Amazing story that reads like an outtake from a noir novel.

Food for Thought.

Thanks for reading!