The first time through the lineup was slow for the Cubs today as they were only able to notch a single and a walk with no runs but after that the Cubs couldn't be stopped at the plate. Following a 2 run HR by Elvis Andrus in the 3rd inning, Javy Baez responded with a solo blast in the top of the 4th. It was all over from there as the Cubs put together 12 unanswered including a six run 5th inning capped off by Javy Baez's 2nd homer of the day, this time a 3 run shot. Following the 5th the cubs put up two runs in the 6th on an Almora single and a Rizzo bases loaded walk, another run in the 7th on a Jason Heyward RBI ground out and capped off by a Kris Bryant 2 run blast in the 8th.
Following a long off season of questions about where this Cubs offense is mentally it's a good sign to see them put up 12 runs on 13 hits. One thing that impressed me today was how spread out the offense was. It was much different than last year where you may have seen it all come from 2 or 3 guys any given day, today we saw 8 of the 9 starters reach base successfully with the only one not being Zagunis who only got two at bats (1/2 1RBI) before being pulled for Schwarber.
On the mound, Jon Lester was about what you expected from him. A solid day from the Cubs ace besides a small hiccup in the 3rd allowing a double and homer for the only runs he gave up. Regardless of that inning it was still a great day on the mound as Jon finished 6IP, 4H, 2ER and 3k's. Randy Rosario and Brad Brach each threw an inning of scoreless ball before Strop and Montgomery gave up 2 runs combined as they split the 9th inning.
It's only one game and it was against one of the worst teams in baseball a year ago but today I think should be the start that the Cubs need to hopefully get the offense jumpstarted into a successful April so that they can hopefully jump out to an early lead in the division.
