Dbacks Sweep Cubs On Strong Starting Pitching Efforts

Arizona makes it’s third stop on it’s road trip and the snakes were shaking their heads heading to Chicago. After being swept by LA and losing three to the Cardinals, they were hoping that the same luck would not happen in the “Windy City.”   The Cubs were lead by “The New Guy” Rob Lyons, who has held his own in his opening series. How would this series shake out.

Game 1

Dbacks 4

Cubs 0

WP – King LP – Perez HR – Lopez

It seemed like neither team wanted to score runs. After five innings, there was still no score. The Dbacks would strike first, led by an Otto Lopez 3-run blast to break the scoreless tie. A Starling Marte RBI single would make it 4-0. Michael King would pitch 5.1 inning of scoreless ball, striking out nine. The rest of the pen shut things down and, in the end, 14 K’s were recorded by the Cubbies.

Game 2

Dbacks 4

Cubs 3

(11 Innings)

WP – Lee LP – Ashcraft SV – Doval HR – Bell, Arraez

Game two and again, the first half of the game was a snooze-fest. The Dbacks would score first in the 6^th, on a Miguel Andujar double-play, but it would score Issac Collins. Gavin Sheets would SAC in Trevor Story, to make it 2-0 Arizona. Ronny Mauricio would score on Michael Conforto SAC to make it 2-1 after seven. Luis Arraez would hit a solo home run in the 8^th inning, and it is 3-1 Arizona. In the bottom of the 8^th, Josh Bell would hit a 2-run blast to tie the game at 3. This game would go to extras. We would get to the 11^th and Alex Call would lead off with a Triple. He would score on a ground out from Otto Lopez to make it 4-3. Camilo Doval would keep the Cubs from doing any damage and a Dbacks win.

Game 3

Dbacks 5

Cubs 1

WP – Doval LP – Walker HR – Lopez

The Cubs would strike first in Game 3 with an Otto Kemp RBI Double in the 2^nd inning. Nolan McClain was dominant, pitching six strong innings of shutout baseball. Then in the 8^th, it was Tajaun Walker time? He would load the bases with snakes and then throw at Call to score a run to tie the game 1-1. This game was going to extras. Walker is pitching in the 10^th and it gets ugly. Call would step up and hit a 2-run single and Otto Lopez would follow that with a 2-run bomb to make it a 5-1 Dbacks victory.

Game 4

Dbacks 5

Cubs 1

WP – Suarez LP – Sproat HR – Higashoka (2)

The day game special and this one was all Dbacks. Kyle Higashoka has a 3-column HR chance 1-11 and he hits it twice in this game, both solo shots. Lopez, Arraez and Brendan Donvan would each get an RBI to close out the series sweep. Ranger Suarez would pitch 8-innings, striking out 5 and allowing 5 total Cubs baserunners.

It was great for the Dbacks to get into the win column this week. Cubs are not a team to take lightly. We had to win to extra innings games in the process. Starting pitching was huge in this one, as Abbott, G.Holmes, King and Suarez pitched 25.33 innings and allowed 3 total runs. We hope that trend can continue as the Giants are next on the schedule.