Don’t forget May 7th, 2010. Today is the day a star was born.
After being swept by the Pirates, the Chicago Cubs decided to shake things up by calling up phenom Starlin Castro. Castro has been hyped since the end of last season. Despite hitting around .470 in Spring Training, Castro didn’t break camp with the big league club.
However, Chicago needed a shot in the arm after a disappointing start to the season. Castro was called up and was quickly placed in the starting lineup batting 8th and playing shortstop. Nobody in the history of baseball has had a better debut than Castro.
Castro hit a 3 run opposite field homerun in his 1st at bat a la Jason Heyward. The newest addition to the Cubs also hit a bases clearing triple in his 3rd at bat for RBIs number 4,5 and 6. Castro had more RBIs in his 1st game than the entire team during their 3 losses in Pittsburgh. He finished 2-5 on the night. Len Kasper said it best: “the Cubs are averaging 14 runs with Castro in the lineup.”
Starlin might have been the spark-plug the Cubs were looking for because the team exploded for 10 runs. Marlon Byrd hit a 2 run bomb and added a double in the 8th. Kosuke Fukudome and Geovany Soto also had RBIs.
After losing his starting spot earlier in the day, Mike Fontenot pinch hit in the 8th with the bases loaded. He responded really well, by hitting a grand slam making the score 14-4.
Carlos Silva (3-0) took the ball for the Cubs and wasn’t as sharp as his 1st few starts. Silva allowed 4 runs on 10 hits in 5 innings of work. Luckily for him, the offense went to work against Homer Bailey (0-2) and the Reds’ bullpen.
The Cubs’ bullpen had a solid night (for the most part) as Justin Berg, Sean Marshall, and James Russell each pitched a scoreless inning. They weren’t perfect however, as John Grabow continues to show why he shouldn’t have resigned in the off season.
Grabow is clearly the weak link in the Cubs’ bullpen. The left hander allowed 3 runs on 4 hits including 3 doubles, a single, a walk and a wild pitch. Grabow is the 2010 version of Aaron Heilman and or Bob Howry.
The Cubs look to string together back to back wins tomorrow in Cincy. Tom Gorzelanny (1-3) will look for his 2nd win while the Reds will have their ace Aaron Harang (1-4) on the mound.
Final Score: Cubs (14-16) 14 – Reds (14-15) 7