Chicago Cubs manager David Ross had been banished from the dugout and clubhouse, forced to watch Tuesday’s series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates from elsewhere in PNC Park.
Ross served a one-game suspension from Saturday’s incident involving right-hander Keegan Thompson intentionally hitting Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Andrew McCutchen with a pitch. That meant as soon as the pregame on-field festivities ended for the Pirates’ home opener, Ross had to find somewhere away from the Cubs to watch the game.
He didn’t wait long to rejoin his team, greeting the players as they entered the visitors’ clubhouse after securing a 2-1 win over the Pirates.
Ross’ voice boomed into the hallway, clearly fired up after the Cubs’ all-around win.
“Attaboy!” Ross said, greeting Seiya Suzuki and interpreter Toy Matsushita, the last people in after finishing a postgame interview on the field. Suzuki’s torrid start to his rookie season included driving in both Cubs runs with his first multi-homer game in the majors.
He won a six-pitch battle against Pirates left-hander José Quintana in the fifth for the first run. Suzuki slugged a full-count elevated fastball over the right-center-field wall.
In his next at-bat in the seventh, Suzuki jumped an inside fastball on the second pitch from Pirates reliever Anthony Banda. The Cubs right fielder has three home runs in his last two games.
“He’s good,” acting manager Andy Green said. “I mean, it’s not rocket science. He can flat swing the bat. He’s really done a good job of controlling the strike zone.”
Suzuki is the only major-league player with eight-plus RBIs and four-plus walks in his first four career games since RBIs became an official stat in 1920, according to STATS.
“He’s been extremely impressive to everybody,” Cubs starter Drew Smyly said. “That’s what’s caught my eye the most: He doesn’t chase. He waits for the pitcher to come to him and he’s got a really pretty swing. He’s the real deal.”
The Cubs’ first four games could not have played out much better. All four starters pitched at least five innings coming out of the shortened spring training. They have a combined 0.89 ERA (two runs in 20⅓ innings) with seven walks and 16 strikeouts the first turn through.
Smyly was the least built up, yet his effectiveness allowed him to pitch five innings. The Pirates managed just three hits off the lefty. The Cubs’ five pitchers — Smyly, Chris Martin, Ethan Roberts, Mychal Givens and David Robertson — did not issue a walk in the win.
Smyly relied on a three-pitch mix — curveball, four-seam fastball and cutter — to keep the Pirates in check. He thought about incorporating the changeup he worked on in the offseason, but he wanted the Pirates to show they could hit his curveball first. They didn’t do much against the pitch, which generated six whiffs and had just one hit off it.
“They were extremely aggressive swinging early and often,” Smyly said. “I did a pretty good job landing my off-speed for strikes, throwing cutters in for strikes and curveballs away for strikes and just keeping them off balance.”
It’s early — obligatory small sample size in full effect — but the Cubs are playing the type of games this roster was built for. They have generally done well putting the ball in play and limiting strikeouts from too many spots in the lineup. The relievers they signed during camp have been pretty solid, particularly Givens and Robertson in the eighth and ninth innings.
Their infield defense has held up behind a contact-dominant rotation. On Tuesday that meant shortstop Nico Hoerner unleashing another jump throw from the hole to nail Ke’Bryan Hayes at first for the second out of the third. It kept the potential tying run, a leadoff double by Roberto Pérez, at second base.
Smyly said the sequence was a huge turning point for his outing.
“The play Nico made, that was insane,” Smyly said. “I thought he was going to put it in his back pocket and then he jumped up and threw it and Hayes, he’s not slow, so for him to make that play was incredible.”
Smyly induced 11 groundouts and the defense held up.
“We’ve been really aggressive moving our infielders around early in the season, and so far we’ve been good,” said Green, who also serves as the Cubs infield coach. “But we’ve also been a little bit lucky. Stuff’s been going right at us and when it hasn’t, Nico makes plays like he did today.
“The way we get the ball on the ground with that rotation, it’s going to be huge for us if we keep that up.”
The Cubs don’t have much wiggle room for things to go wrong. The bullpen must hold up as Ross and pitching coach Tommy Hottovy figure out which pitchers best fit certain roles. While the Cubs needed Suzuki’s two home runs to win Tuesday, the offense has shown it can move runners and score without solely relying on the long ball. Too often last year the Cubs featured a boom-or-bust lineup.
Again, it’s very early in a 162-game season. But there are signs the Cubs possess some interesting pieces for 2022 and beyond.
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