{"id":38856,"date":"2025-03-05T11:44:58","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T11:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=38856"},"modified":"2025-03-05T11:44:58","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T11:44:58","slug":"cubs-16-padres-1-the-guys-sure-earned-their-off-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=38856","title":{"rendered":"Cubs 16, Padres 1: The guys sure earned their off day"},"content":{"rendered":"

MESA, Arizona<\/strong> \u2014 This was an unusual game for this early in Spring Training. Not one player from the Cubs minor-league camp played in Tuesday\u2019s 16-1 Cubs win over the Padres. All of the 24 Cubs in this game were either 40-man roster guys or official NRI\u2019s to Spring Training.<\/p>\n

The likely reason is Wednesday\u2019s off day, so Craig Counsell got to see a lot of guys in different roles and positions.<\/p>\n

There are a couple of things worth highlighting here. First was the appearance of Pete Crow-Armstrong in the starting lineup, showing that whatever hamstring tightness he had that kept him out of Monday\u2019s game was not a big deal.<\/p>\n

And then PCA showed off the speed and disruption that he\u2019s become known for on MLB basepaths.<\/p>\n

It was in the second inning. Dansby Swanson had walked with two out, and advanced to second on a passed ball.<\/p>\n

Then PCA did this [VIDEO].<\/p>\n

It really was just an ordinary single to center field. Swanson scored, and when the throw into second got away, PCA never stopped running and scored easily, the \u201cLittle League home run\u201d that we\u2019ve seen from him before and likely will again.<\/p>\n

This is the sort of thing PCA brings to the Cubs lineup. I look forward to seeing lots of it this spring, summer and fall at Wrigley Field.<\/p>\n

The Cubs scored another pair in the third, one on a sac fly by Kyle Tucker and the other on an RBI single by Matt Shaw, his first hit of the spring [VIDEO].<\/p>\n

Shaw would later hit another single in the fifth, so he had a productive afternoon, and looked good in the field.<\/p>\n

While all this was going on, Sh\u014dta Imanaga was shutting down Padres hitters, admittedly, not most of their good players who stayed behind in Peoria to face the Giants. Still, Shot struck out three and threw four strong innings, allowing just a pair of singles. Here, he strikes out the side in the first [VIDEO].<\/p>\n

After that he returned to the bullpen and threw some more pitches (click here for the Bluesky post):<\/p>\n

The rest of the game was played by Padres minor leaguers, so I wouldn\u2019t read too much into the Cubs\u2019 four-run sixth or seven-run seventh, but it is worth looking at James Triantos\u2019 two-run triple [VIDEO].<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the entire seven-run inning [VIDEO].<\/p>\n

As for Cubs relievers, Caleb Thielbar, Ryan Brasier, Julian Merryweather, Porter Hodge and Eli Morgan \u2014 all of whom will likely see time in the MLB pen this year \u2014 threw five innings, allowed four hits and a run, and struck out seven. The run was off Hodge in the eighth. He gave up a two-out walk and then a pair of singles. I wouldn\u2019t be too concerned.<\/p>\n

Attendance watch:<\/strong> 10,157 paid to see this game at Sloan Park. That makes the season total for eight dates 97,158, or 12,145 per date.<\/p>\n

This was my last game in Arizona this spring. I\u2019m leaving Wednesday morning to drive back to Chicago, to get ready to fly to Tokyo on the 13th to attend the games there and, obviously, cover them for this site. I hope to bring you more of the flavor of Japan than just baseball, too.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, as noted above, the Cubs have Wednesday off. They will host the Royals Thursday evening at Sloan Park in the only home night game of the spring, at 7:05 p.m. CT. Justin Steele will start for the Cubs and Cole Ragans, who the Cubs pounded on Saturday in Surprise, will go for Kansas City. TV coverage Thursday will be via Marquee Sports Network and there will be a radio broadcast via Royals radio.<\/p>\n

Stick around BCB Wednesday, though, we\u2019ll have plenty for you right here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cubs piled it on a split squad of Padres.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":38857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nCubs 16, Padres 1: The guys sure earned their off day - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=38856\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cubs 16, Padres 1: The guys sure earned their off day - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Cubs piled it on a split squad of Padres.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=38856\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-05T11:44:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/avtvip-16-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=38856\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=38856\",\"name\":\"Cubs 16, Padres 1: The guys sure earned their off day - 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