Kyle Tucker has been in the news lately for things that weren’t so great.
So you can imagine how happy he was — along with the rest of us — when his first home run since July 1 went into the seats in the first inning at Angel Stadium Friday evening.
Pete Crow-Armstrong bookended that homer with one of his own in the ninth inning off Kenley Jansen and the Cubs defeated the Angels 3-2
in the first game of a nine-game road trip.About PCA’s blast, from BCB’s JohnW53:
PCA’s first homer was his first since
July 23 at home vs. the Royals, with the Cubs behind, 8-3, in the eighth.
This was his 26th game since then. In the previous 25, he was slashing .195/.265/.287, .553, with 8 doubles and 9 singles.
His two strikeouts earlier vs. the Angels made his total 31 in the 26 games.
Let’s rewind to the beginning.
Nico Hoerner led off the game with a ground out. Then Tucker ran the count full off Tyler Anderson and then hit this blast [VIDEO].
For Tucker, it was his first home run since July 19 — a span of 107 plate appearances. And that was a no-doubter [VIDEO].
Javier Assad set the Angels down 1-2-3 in both the first and second innings. Then the Cubs added a run in the top of the third. Dansby Swanson and Matt Shaw walked and Nico Hoerner singled to load the bases.
One out later, Seiya Suzuki scored Swanson with this sac fly [VIDEO].
In the bottom of the third, Tucker and Hoerner had a scary moment chasing down this pop fly [VIDEO].
Fortunately, both players were fine after their impromptu “meeting.”
The Cubs nearly had another run in the fourth, but Bryce Teodosio stole a home run from Ian Happ [VIDEO].
Assad had a scoreless fourth, helped out by this slick play by Shaw [VIDEO].
Yoan Moncada homered off Assad in the fifth to make it 2-1, but otherwise Assad was brilliant in this, his third start of the year. He allowed just one other hit besides Moncada’s home run, issued one walk and struck out four [VIDEO].
Here’s more on Assad’s outing [VIDEO].
And more from John:
Javier Assad’s start was just the Cubs’ second since 1901 of at least six innings in which the pitcher walked one, hit at least two and gave up no more than two hits.
Ted Lilly shut out White Sox on one hit over eight innings with two HBP at Wrigley Field on June 13, 2010.
Carlos Silva gave up two runs on three hits and hit three in six innings against the Sox on the South Side just 13 days later, on June 26.
Andrew Kittredge relieved Assad and served up another home run ball to Moncada, tying the game 2-2.
Shaw flashed some glove again in the bottom of the eighth [VIDEO].
That helped Brad Keller throw a 1-2-3 inning.
And so that’s where the game stood with one out in the ninth when PCA stepped to the plate. Boom! [VIDEO]
PCA seems to love hitting in his home state:
Daniel Palencia, who had an… interesting outing on Wednesday against the Brewers, entered for the save opportunity. This wound up being a much better game for him, as he dispatched the Angels 1-2-3. First was a strikeout of Mike Trout on a 100 mile per hour fastball. A ground out followed, and then Moncada came to the plate, having provided the Angels offense with his two home runs.
Palencia struck him out using nothing but sliders and splitters [VIDEO].
So the Cubs got good pitching, solid defense and just enough offense to win this one. From my point of view in the Central time zone, I was also quite happy to have this game run just two hours, 24 minutes, ending just after 11 p.m. CT.
Here’s Shaw on his defense and the home runs by Tucker and PCA [VIDEO].
Though the Cubs still trail the Brewers by seven games after a walk-off win by Milwaukee Friday night, this victory gave the Cubs the NL’s third-best record behind the Brewers and Phillies (and just half a game behind the Phillies). This is still a very good team and hopefully, they can make a run of things on this road trip.
Cade Horton will start the second game of the series Saturday evening in Anaheim. He’ll be opposed by Angels righthander Victor Mederos. Game time is again 8:38 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
