TOKYO — A cacophony of chants, horns, drums and cheers greeted Chicago Cubs right-hander Julian Merryweather as he faced the Hanshin Tigers leadoff hitter Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers support section in right field kept the Tokyo Dome buzzing every bottom half of the inning, with coordinated cheers erupting for each Hanshin batter, a vocal ferocity maintained through the entire at-bat. While silence greeted Cubs hitters against Hanshin starter Keito Mombetsu and its relievers, the nine Cubs pitchers who appeared in the 3-0 exhibition loss experienced a very different atmosphere.
Merryweather wasn’t fazed by the electric environment, needing only six pitches to record a perfect first inning in a bullpen game for the Cubs.
“It was different for sure, first time experiencing anything like that,” Merryweather said. “I mean, obviously we’re used to sellouts at Wrigley, but the fans were just cheering the whole time. … I kind of liked the energy from the crowd cheering. I think the language barrier helped because I didn’t know what they’re saying, but it was good energy so I was feeding off it.”
The contrasting silent backdrop didn’t seem to help Cubs hitters against Mombetsu, who was perfect through five innings. Miguel Amaya’s one-out single in the sixth versus reliever Nick Nelson finally put a runner on base. The Cubs, though, managed just three hits in the loss, including a single by Seiya Suzuki, who was greeted by constant cheers throughout the game.
Suzuki smoked two other balls for bad-luck line outs — both barreled balls that had an expected average of .720 and .970, respectively.
“He deserved a hit with how hard he hit a couple balls today,” manager Craig Counsell said.
The Tigers broke through with a run in three consecutive innings, taking advantage of a two-out double off lefty Caleb Thielbar in the third, a one-out double after a steal against right-hander Tyson Miller and a double following a single and walk with right-hander Porter Hodge on the mound.
Amaya had an idea of what the environment might be like from watching previous World Baseball Classic games in Japan, as well as checking out a few Nippon Professional Baseball games.
“I know they go crazy, but once you’re in the game, you’re engaged in the game, you’re just locked in with your pitcher, with your teammates,” Amaya said. “It was such an amazing experience playing in front of these fans.”
Although the Cubs possess some basic knowledge of their exhibition opponents — Counsell noted in Friday’s news conference how much Hanshin likes to run; the Tigers were 3-for-3 in stolen-base attempts Saturday — they otherwise don’t possess much insight for advance scouting reports. That’s the nature of the crossover games. Counsell, though, was looking forward to that element of the Cubs games versus Hanshin and the Yomiuri Giants.
“We live in an era of baseball now where information dominates every bit of preparation, and we get to play two games where there’s not a lot of information, and that’s fun as an older person going back to an era where I played, like, we might have to ask the hitter before what’s he got?” Counsell said.
“So I think that’s fun. Now we’ll see if our hitters like it. I think our hitters, they want the information. I think our pitchers, you just stay on the attack, pitch to your strengths. So a little bit easier from that end.”
Amaya experienced both ends of that. Behind the plate, he noticed Hanshin hitters were not as aggressive in the first inning. But once the game progressed, he felt the Tigers were swinging more. From the hitter side, Tigers pitchers often relied on their two best pitches before flashing another “they had in the back pocket.”
“They’re trying to compete too,” Amaya said. “It was an amazing experience.”
The Cubs get another taste of an NPB environment Sunday in Japan when they play Yomiuri. Perhaps watching the raucous chants and cheers that NPB teams’ supporters break out will inspire Cubs fans to bring that same type of vibe to the Wrigley Field bleachers. Merryweather is on board with the idea.
“Sure, let’s see what they come up with, at least throw it out there,” he said before adding, “Might be dangerous.”
Suzuki laughed when asked whether Cubs fans should come up with songs for all the hitters.
“I’d fear that something wild would happen, so let’s keep it the way it is,” Suzuki quipped.
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