Dansby Swanson Saves Another Potential Cubs Meltdown
Dansby Swanson was fourth on my free agent shortstop wishlist two offseasons ago, but I am glad to be so wrong about him. The defense alone has made him so valuable to the Chicago Cubs and Swanson saved them from another potential meltdown Sunday afternoon in the team’s series finale against the Seattle Mariners.
Hector Neris was the big free agent pickup by the Cubs for the bullpen in the winter and so far he’s been awful. He came into Sunday’s game in the eighth inning, trying to protect a 3-2 lead and he instantly walked the first two batters he faced on 10 pitches. The veteran reliever did strike out Mitch Haniger, but once again lost command of the zone and walked the bases loaded.
Ty France came up to the plate and on a 2-2 sinker the Cubs got out of the jam, as Settle’s first baseman bounced a grounder to shortstop. Two things, thank god that France is one of the slowest runners in baseball and more importantly thank you DANSBY!
At first glance, you might think that it was a fairly routine play for the gold glove shortstop, but when you look at the replay you’ll see that Swanson made a great adjustment on a tricky, last-second hop and was able to complete the inning-ending double play.
Adbert Alzolay entered in the ninth and struck out the first two hitters, but the Mariners did get the winning run up after Cal Raleigh singled to right field.
Seattle put in Julio Rodríguez as a pinch runner for Raleigh at first base, but he was too aggressive taking his lead and Alzolay was able to pick him off to end the game after Craig Counsell successfully challenged the original safe call.
Following a tough series loss against the San Diego Padres, the Cubs were able to grind through their first road series win of the season in Seattle. The offense didn’t do much this weekend, scoring nine runs, but the pitching staff took advantage of a weak Mariners’ offense and thanks to Swanson’s play in the eighth inning the Cubs are now leaving Seattle on a high.
Besides the double play in the eighth, the Cubs turned two more to end innings in the fourth and seventh innings, respectively. The one in the seventh also got the Cubs out of big trouble, as the Mariners had runners at first and third with one out.
Great to see the Cubs come away with a series win backed by their pitching and defense, picking up a slumping offensive group that had previously carried the team through the first few series of the year.