The Cubs have been desperately seeking solid starting pitching and Tuesday night in Baltimore, they got it from Matthew Boyd.
Boyd threw six shutout innings against the Orioles, allowing just three hits and striking out seven, as the Cubs defeated the Orioles 5-2 in the first game of a six-game road trip.
The game went scoreless into the top of the third. With two out in that inning, Miguel Amaya drew a walk and went to second on a single by Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Alex Bregman’s single scored Amaya to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead [VIDEO].
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The game remained 1-0 Cubs until the top of the fifth. Dansby Swanson led off with a single. Amaya, having himself a nice game, doubled to center. PCA then singled, scoring Swanson [VIDEO].
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Amaya took third on the play, and then scored on this fielder’s choice by Bregman [VIDEO].
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As you can see, Bregman was called out at first on the field, but it was quiekly overturned by the replay review crew. The Cubs had a chance for more in the inning when Michael Busch walked, but Seiya Suzuki then hit into an inning-ending double play.
Boyd was outstanding in his six innings of work. He threw 93 pitches (64 strikes). Here are his seven K’s [VIDEO].
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Here’s more on Boyd’s outing [VIDEO].
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That’s definitely Boyd’s best outing of the year, and now he’s thrown 15.2 innings since his return from the weird knee injury, allowed three runs in that span (1.72 ERA) and struck out 13. If he can keep this up, that is a huge boost to the rotation. More on Boyd from BCB’s JohnW53:
Matthew Boyd is the fourth different Cub this season to pitch at least six shutout innings.
Shota Imanaga had starts of 7.0 and 6.0; Javier Asasad, of 6.1 and 6.0; and Edward Cabrerea, 6.0. Cabrera’s and both of Imanaga’s came in the Cubs’ first 33 games, through May 2.
The next, Assad’s first, came in their 66th game, on June 7. His second came five days later, in their 70th, so this was the Cubs’ first in 21 games.
The Cubs extended the lead to 4-0 in the top of the seventh. Amaya led off with a single and one out later, advanced to third on a double by Bregman, who had himself a nice game.
Michael Busch’s sacrifice fly scored Amaya [VIDEO].
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Ryan Rolison relieved Boyd and got himself in trouble with a pair of singles, followed by two strikeouts and a walk, loading the bases. It might have been worse if Amaya hadn’t correctly challenged a possible ball four call [VIDEO].
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Rolison, who threw 27 pitches, was relieved by Jacob Webb. Webb got Adley Rutschman to hit a ground ball, but it went just out of Nico Hoerner’s reach into right field for a two-run single to cut the lead in half. Webb then struck out Gunnar Henderson to end the inning.
The Cubs got one of those runs back in the eighth. With one out, Nico singled and stole second. A ground out advanced Nico to third, where he scored on this single by Swanson [VIDEO].
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Tyler Ferguson, who’s rapidly getting into Craig Counsell’s Circle of Trust, threw a 1-2-3 eighth on only eight pitches.
Trent Thornton was given the save opportunity. He retired the Orioles 1-2-3 on two ground outs and a strikeout to post his second save. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].
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Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].
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Overall the Cubs went 3-for-8 with RISP, cashed in on several situations and in general, got good relief pitching (save the two-run single given up by Webb), a really nice way to start the road trip.
The Cubs will go for two in a row over the Orioles Wednesday evening in Baltimore. Colin Rea will start for the Cubs and Dean Kremer goes for the O’s. Game time is 5:35 p.m. CT (that is, if they don’t have another “rain delay” without rain) and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
