Chatwood stars in Cubs win, plus other NL Central stuff

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The Cubs got just about the best news possible in the form of a Tyler Chatwood quality start Sunday.  Chatwood went six scoreless innings in the Cubs 2-1 walk off win over the Diamondbacks.  Chatwood allowed only two hits and two walks while striking out three.  Tyler was able to navigate six innings on only 71 pitches, which is an amazing turnaround from past performances.  The obvious question is, what next?

Everything but a win

Chatwood didn’t get the win as a result of a blown save by Pedro Strop.  The Cubs entered the ninth with a 1-0 lead but Strop gave up a home run to Jared Dyson to even the game.  The Cubs won in walk off fashion when David Bote singled in Javy Baez with the game winner.  Previously the Cubs had taken the lead when Baez tripled in  Anthony Rizzo in the bottom of the sixth.

Cubs big three: Baez, Contreras and Heyward?

Baez was pretty much the Cubs offense Sunday.  In addition to tripling in Rizzo, Javy doubled to lead off the bottom of the ninth and went to third on Adam Jones’ error.  Actually for the early part of the season, the Cubs offense has been carried by Baez, Willson Contreras and Jason Heyward. Contreras has an OPS of 1.179 while Heyward checks with a healthy 1.037 mark.  If you had told me Contreras and Heyward would be this good thus far, I would have thought the Cubs would be better than 10-10.

Is it time to worry?

Of concern, at least to the majority of Cubs fans I’ve poled, is the slow start of Kris Bryant.  Bryant currently is hitting .230 with an OPS of .710.  There would probably be less concern about Bryant if he wasn’t coming off an injury plagued, subpar 2018 season.  I’m at least moderately concerned about Bryant.  I’m happy the Cubs have David Bote just in case.  When the Cubs signed Bote to a five year extension, I  wondered if the Cubs had some reservations about Bryant.  If Kris does bounce back he’s going to be awful pricey.  Having Bote on hand is a nice backup position.  By the way, Bote’s walk off single was his fourth career walk off.  He seems to have a flair for that sort of thing.

Pirates have been sneaky good

In other NL Central news, the Pirates have quietly taken the lead in the division.  They currently sit at 12-7.  As expected, their pitching has been strong but long term they probably need to find another bat or two.  While the Pirates starting pitching has been outstanding, a team ERA of 2.52 just isn’t sustainable.

Bad weekend for Josh Hader

In a situation that may be of concern to Brewers fans, super relief pitcher, Josh Hader, has been tagged with two losses in three games.  Hader took the loss Sunday in the Brewers 6-5 loss to the Dodgers when he gave up the game winning homer to Cody Bellinger.  Hader has been great for a sustained period of time, but his workload may become a concern as the season wears on.