The Chicago Cubs began their first of two exhibition games in Japan by losing 3-0 to the Hanshin Tigers. Offensively, the Cubs were held without a hit until the sixth inning and finished with just three in the contest. Another worrisome finding from this game came in the running game as catcher Miguel Amaya gave up three stolen bases.
Chicago Cubs bats silent in 3-0 loss to the Hanshin Tigers
On the rubber for the Tigers in this exhibition game was 20 year old southpaw Keito Mombetsu. The soon to be third year pro tossed five perfect innings while striking out two Cubs batters. When the Tigers switched to the bullpen, Amaya broke up the no-hitter by hitting a single.
The Cubs only other two hits in this game were also singles. Seiya Suzuki had a base knock in the seventh inning and Michael Bush in the ninth inning. Chicago did deploy what could be their Opening Day lineup as the batting order to start the game looked as followed:
- Ian Happ LF
- Seiya Suzuki DH
- Kyle Tucker RF
- Justin Turner 1B
- Matt Shaw 3B
- Dansby Swanson SS
- Pete Crow-Armstrong CF
- Miguel Amaya C
- Jon Berti 3B
Struggles in the running game
While this exhibition game did not feature MLB rules such as a pitch clock and disengagement limits, Amaya did surrender three stolen bases in this contest while failing to catch a runner stealing. Amaya struggled in the running game a season ago, throwing out just 19% of base stealers.
From a pitching perspective, the Cubs used a bullpen style approach to get through this game. Each pitcher tossed one inning or less, with Caleb Thielbar, Tyson Miller, and Porter Hodge getting tagged with one earned run.
When do the Cubs play next in Japan?
Chicago will play one more exhibition game, with their next opponent being the Yomiuri Giants. This game will start at 5:00 AM Central Time on Sunday morning. After that, the Cubs will play two regular season games against the Los Angeles Dodgers before coming back to the United States to finish up spring training.
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