MESA, Arizona — It’s getting hot in the Valley of the Sun — over 90 degrees Thursday, when the average high is about 77 — and Edward Cabrera is heating up, too, getting ready for his spot in the Cubs rotation.
Cabrera threw 60 pitches (43 strikes) in throwing until there were two out in the fourth. He struck out three. He left with the lead and the Cubs hung on to defeat the Mariners 7-4.
One of Cabrera’s strikeouts was notable. In the first inning, former Cubs prospect Brennen Davis was at bat with
one out and a runner on first. Cabrera ran a 3-2 count on Davis and then threw a pitch that was called ball four. Carson Kelly challenged, and the call was overturned, resulting in a called strikeout. Here’s the at-bat in question:
Davis had a pretty good at-bat, as you can see, fouling off a bunch of Cabrera’s offerings. But you can also see that pitch 10, the one that was overturned, was definitely in the zone. This was a good use of the ABS challenge in the first inning. Not that you’d necessarily do that in a regular-season game, but it was definitely good practice for Kelly to challenge that pitch.
The Mariners scored a run in the third off Cabrera on a single, stolen base, fly to right and infield out. The Cubs took the lead in the bottom of the inning. BJ Murray led off with a double and went to third on a single by Michael Busch. One out later, Ian Happ doubled in both runners. Sorry — no video available.
As noted, Cabrera was lifted in the fourth. Here’s his pitch breakdown [VIDEO].
The Cubs extended their lead to 3-1 in the fifth. Jefferson Rojas singled with one out and took third on another single by Busch. Nico Hoerner hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Rojas, but Busch was tagged out trying to take second.
The Cubs broke the game open in the seventh, all with minor leaguers and NRI’s. The most important hit was a home run by Chas McCormick, who still has a chance to make the Opening Day roster.
Of Cubs relievers who will be on that roster, Phil Maton threw a scoreless inning, but he did walk a pair. Otherwise the collection of relievers was guys who won’t be there Opening Day (Corbin Martin, Jack Neely, Tyler Beede and Vince Reilly).
Attendance watch: 14,717 paid to see this afternoon affair. That makes the season total for 12 dates 147,731, or 12,311 per date.
The Cubs will head to Glendale to take on the White Sox Friday afternoon. Ben Brown will start for the Cubs and Davis Martin goes for the Sox. Game time is again 3:05 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via the White Sox channel CHSN. There’s also a radio broadcast with the Sox announcers on WMVP/ESPN 1000.
