In the last game ever at HoHoKam Park, the Chicago Cubs beat the World Series Champs San Francisco Giants 4-3 to go up to 2-0 in Cactus League play.
Jeff Samardzija started the game in his spring action and first time pitching since he was shut-down late September. Samardzija was alright in his 2 innings of work as he gave up 3 hits, 1 earn run, 0 walks and struck out 2. The only run Samardzija gave up was on an rbi-single by Guillermo Quioz and that drove in Francisco Peguero.
The Cubs had a busy 1st inning … after a flyout by David DeJeus to open the game, Starlin Castro hit a single up the middle, Anthony Rizzo reached on a throwing error by 1B Brandon Belt and Alfosno Soriano singled up the middle.
The bases were loaded for Nate Schierholz, but he could only drive in one run on an rbi-groundout. That left men on 2nd and 3rd for Dioner Navarro and he did not disappoint. Navarro hit a home run over the right field wall to drive in Castro and Soriano. That was Navarro’s 1st home run in a Cubs uniform, even if it’s spring training.
The 1st inning was all the runs the Cubs could score in the game. In good news, it was against CY candidate Matt Cain.
Carlos Marmol did not help his trade value too much as he still couldn’t throw strikes. Marmol only had 1 walk, however. But he did give up an rbi-double to Pablo Sandoval that drove in Gregour Blanco.
Another candidate whom has a chance to make the ‘pen Cory Wade pitched well. However, he did give up an unearned run due to Anthony Rizzo’s error.
Kyuji Fujikawa took the ball and looked very sharp. He threw mostly strikes, which had to make manager Dale Svuem very happy. In 1 inning, Fujikawa gave up 1 hit and struck out 2.
Before the game, Dale Sveum said – barring no trade, his top 4 in the line-up for the 2013 season will be David DeJesus, Starlin Castro, Anthony Rizzo and Alfonso Soriano. Like I’ve stated before, I love Castro in the 2 hole and think he’s the best suited 2 man on the team.
Postgame comments:
*Samardzija said after the game that he was happy with his fastball and splitter, but his slider was “garbage”. He will work on his slider during his next Cactus League start.
*Most of the game was focus on Alfonso Soriano and I’ll have a separate article on this later.
Today the Cubs will take on the Los Angeles Dodgers at 2 p.m. Central in Glendale.
Cactus Game #3: Chicago Cubs Lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-6
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