Coors Field can be daunting because of its vast outfield and notoriously challenging atmosphere for pitchers.
A four-game series against the Colorado Rockies will test the Chicago Cubs’ defense and pitching staff. They survived some shaky moments in both those areas in Thursday’s series-opening 5-2 win. A three-run first inning gave the Cubs enough of a cushion to hold on. And with that victory, there were three takeaways.
1. Keegan Thompson’s versatility is a blessing to the pitching staff.
The Cubs right-hander knew he would pitch in Thursday’s series opener at Coors Field.
A plan was in place for Thompson to piggyback off starter Justin Steele. The game situation Thompson was called into, however, was not ideal.
Manager David Ross initially went to right-hander Ethan Roberts to relieve Steele with one out in the fifth and runners on first and second. But Roberts struggled: All four hitters he faced reached base, the only out coming on a base-running miscue that resulted in Yonathan Daza getting thrown out at third from left field.
Roberts’ second walk of the inning to load the bases prompted Ross to bring in Thompson to get out of the mess as the Cubs tried to hold on to a one-run lead. Thompson needed three pitches to escape on a 2-0 line out to left field.
“It’s a big situation, you’ve just got to try to stay calm and throw strikes,” Thompson told the Tribune. “First two I yanked but second (cutter), he was sitting I think fastball and I got him off the end of the bat, so just missed the barrel.”
Thompson hadn’t pitched since Saturday against the Milwaukee Brewers — also a scoreless performance (2⅔ innings) — so he threw about 12 pitches in the bullpen during Wednesday’s game at PNC Park to stay ready. He delivered when the Cubs needed him most Thursday. Thompson didn’t require strikeouts to be effective: He pounded the strike zone and just outside it, forcing Colorado’s hitters into tough spots and forcing the ball in play.
Thompson scattered three hits, all singles, in 3⅓ innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out one.
“I enjoy this,” Thompson said. “I enjoy being able to go out there, whether I’m starting or long relief, and really be able to go out there and give the team multiple innings.”
Perhaps at some point this season Thompson gets moved back to a starter role. But right now he’s an extremely valuable multi-inning arm for Ross. For the Cubs, it would be hard to go away from a formula that’s working.
“There’s the starter and then the backend guys and sometimes the middle of the staff can go so many different ways, and he seems to just come in and throw strikes with good stuff,” Ross said. “Being able to get out righties and lefties, giving a guy a run like that when you can get multiple innings in a night is really a blessing.”
2. Justin Steele delivered a sneaky good start.
Steele didn’t stay in the game long enough to qualify for the win, but don’t let that take away from his performance.
When Steele exited with one out and two on in the fifth, the Rockies were still scoreless, but the ensuing two runs in the frame were charged to him. Ross called Steele’s start “one of the best outings I’ve seen from him.”
Ross said the lack of clean play behind Steele cost the lefty about 20 pitches and prevented an otherwise effective start from getting to the seventh. One of the those plays featured right fielder Seiya Suzuki and second baseman Nick Madrigal not cleanly communicating on a popup that carried into the outfield and fell for a hit.
“I‘m just focusing on my breath, controlling the controllable,” Steele said. “That’s something I always like to really focus on because there’s so many things in this game that you can’t control. Once the ball is out of my hand, there’s a lot of things I can’t control.”
Steele has been a bright spot for the Cubs through the first week of the season. He has allowed two runs over 9⅓ combined innings with three walks and nine strikeouts. It’s a long season, but pitching like he did Thursday in a tough environment at Coors Field is impressive for the 26 year old.
3. Frank Schwindel’s two-hit game could be the start of a good run.
When a player has six hits in his first six games and there are questions about why he looks off, it typically means there are high expectations.
That is how Ross is viewing Schwindel’s start to the season. Despite a pair of two-hit games in the opening week, Schwindel hasn’t fully looked like the same hitter he showed during his two-month breakout after last year’s trade deadline.
Sure, it has been only 23 plate appearances. But coming off a shortened spring in which back tightness limited Schwindel to 22 PAs means the Cubs first baseman is still searching for consistency with his timing and swing.
Schwindel has been battling at the plate, making Thursday’s results noteworthy. He pulled a slider deep in the hole at shortstop for an RBI infield single in the first. Then in the sixth, Schwindel took an 0-2 curveball from Rockies starter Kyle Freeland the opposite way for a solo home run, his first of 2022.
Ross isn’t worried by what he has seen from Schwindel.
“You feel like he’s scuffling a little bit and you look up there (at the scoreboard) and he’s got pretty good numbers,” Ross said of Schwindel’s start. “He’s a rhythm hitter. The more he’s going to get in rhythm just as the season goes, the better (he gets). … He’s hit his whole life and he’s going to go through ups and downs, but he can barrel a baseball.”
The Cubs have more contact hitters in the lineup than last season, lessening the impact when Schwindel is off.
Schwindel can be more aggressive when he is in a rhythm, which is a large part of his success.
“When I’m rolling I feel like I can barrel anything no matter where it is, no matter the location, what pitch — it’s going to get hit somewhere,” Schwindel said. “I’m going to try to get that timing down and keep working, keep working in the cage and go from there.”
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