PHOENIX – Speedy Pete Crow-Armstrong punched the air in celebration as the second base umpire motioned that he was safe. He hadn’t accepted that Matt Shaw’s grounder to shortstop was a guaranteed out and beat out the toss to second.
“That’s been a big [topic] during spring training, and making base running a part of this team’s identity,” Crow-Armstrong said after the game Thursday. “We’re looking to extend any inning we can. And I think we saw that that was important [Thursday.]”
Sometimes, those plays won’t change the score. But in the Cubs’ 10-6 win Thursday against the Diamondbacks, the sequence proved just how valuable seemingly small baserunning victories can be.
There were two outs at the time, but instead of the inning ending, Miguel Amaya got a chance to hit with the bases loaded. His bases-clearing double gave the Cubs a 7-3 lead.
“When you talk about something all spring training and you harp on these things, and they’re able to see the results so early,” third base coach Quintin Berry said Friday, “I think it gives us a huge advantage to keep working towards what we talked about, what our team is supposed to be made of, and who we have to be in order to compete in this game.”
Berry said he and first base coach Jose Javier, who both were hired by the Cubs this winter, emphasized staying engaged, getting to the next base with two outs, scoring from second with two outs, and scoring from first.
Shaw, in his third major-league game, scored from first twice on Thursday.
“To be able to do that and get on the board and do something for your team – you’re always trying to help no matter what, it doesn’t always have to be a hit, it doesn’t always have to be a home run,” Berry said. “It’s just the little things you can do to help us win.”
The emphasis was also a reaction to a bit of a shift in personnel. The Cubs added Jon Berti and Vidal Bruján (who is on the 10-day IL with an elbow injury) this winter, and they promoted Shaw to begin the season, adding quickness to the roster.
Not to mention, any offensive advantage that can’t be suppressed by the wind blowing in at Wrigley Field could prove instrumental.
“When the home run is difficult and when the extra-base hits become more difficult, any play in baserunning, [when] you’re talking about lower run-scoring environments and you’re talking about capturing a base, can certainly become more important,” manager Craig Counsell said.
Win for Hoyer?
Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts has been careful not to publicly express any ultimatums when it comes to president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer’s expiring contract. But Ricketts also didn’t give Hoyer the reassurance of an extension before the season. And though Hoyer helped lead the Cubs to a World Series as Theo Epstein’s second-in-command, the Cubs haven’t been to the playoffs in Hoyer’s tenure as president.
“Jed was part of the group that drafted me, I was able to sign an extension with Jed,” left fielder Ian Happ said. “I love Jed. He’s been awesome to me, and a part of building a lot of great teams that I’ve been a part of. We want to win for each other in this room, but I have nothing but respect for him and want to make sure that he stays here.”
This and that
Happ’s home run Thursday was the first of the Cubs’ season, marking the fourth time he’s hit the team’s first homer.
- Crow-Armstrong recorded his first stolen base of the season Thursday. He finished second in that category last season, behind second baseman Nico Hoerner, with 27 in 123 games.