World Series Game 2: Don't overlook work done by Cubs' Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist
The 3-4 hitters were the offensive catalysts, even if they were overshadowed
By
Matt Snyder
•
4 min read
CLEVELAND -- The Cubs got some excellent work from their 3-4 hitters in a 5-1 win in Game 2 of the World Series, pulling them even in the best-of-seven affair at a game apiece.
That sounds rather ordinary, no? A team wins a World Series game with a decent margin, wouldn't we expect the 3-4 hitters on offense to have done some quality work?
Of course, but in this game, it seems that work was overshadowed thanks to Kyle Schwarber's remarkable return and Jake Arrieta taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning.
Don't ignore the importance of what Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist did in this one. They were critical to the Cubs' success. The combined raw numbers say as much, as they combined for three hits -- including a double and a triple -- three walks, three runs and two RBI. Watching the impact the duo had in the early going was even more impressive.
Rizzo doubled home a run in the top of the first, getting the Cubs on top early, and that's a big deal. They are now 7-1 this postseason when scoring first. We also should know how great the Indians are at protecting leads, notably once those bleed into the sixth inning. So Chicago getting an early cushion was a huge deal. The approach was a big part of it, milking counts against Indians starter Trevor Bauer.
"Sometimes you just gotta feel the flow of the game, and I think a lot of our guys tonight went up there with a good plan and executed," Zobrist said.
Zobrist hammered home how many pitches they saw against Bauer the first time through the order and that helped carry the day, bouncing Bauer from the game during the fourth inning.
Rizzo and Zobrist made sure that this turned into a 5-0 lead heading into the sixth. The Indians scratched their way to a few late rallies but only managed the one run. Basically, the Cubs won the game with their lead through six innings -- something we said needed to happen in order for the Cubs to win.
In the top of the third, Schwarber singled home a run, but look at what happened before that. Rizzo coaxed a walk out of what started an 0-2 count and Zobrist followed with a single, getting Rizzo into scoring position for Schwarber.
In the top of the fifth, Rizzo walked after fouling off six pitches. Just fighting off a pitcher's pitches until he got four out of the zone to start a one-out rally. Zobrist followed with a triple (well, the move to third base gets an assist from right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall).
"It gives you the opportunity to be a little bit more aggressive if you want to be," Zobrist said of Rizzo's six-foul walk. "When the game is moving a little quicker, you don't wanna go up and make a quick out."
Zobrist scored on another Schwarber single, and later the Cubs scored on a bases-loaded walk.
It all started with Rizzo fighting off six pitches en route to a walk.
We should also point out that Zobrist was 3-for-4 with a double in Game 1 and in last year's World Series for the Royals he had four doubles in five games.
"I can't say enough about Ben Zobrist," David Ross said. "He's one of those guys who came in and showed the young guys what playing baseball really is."
One thing that is funny is that it seems like some of this comes back to Schwarber. His presence in the lineup makes it that much stronger and there's less need for Rizzo and Zobrist (and Kris Bryant, obviously) to carry a heavy burden. So if the 2-3-4 hitters are simply cogs, so be it. The lineup is much more complete, notably when Willson Contreras is in the lineup and when Javier Baez is having the kind of postseason he's having.
"Rizzo really responded well, the whole group did," Maddon said of Schwarber's presence in the lineup. "It makes your lineup longer. It makes it thicker. It makes it better. Zobrist is seeing better pitches right now because of that, too, I believe."
The Cubs' lineup looked long, thick or whatever you want to say in Game 2, putting on multiple baserunners in six of the first seven innings, as Rizzo said. Sure, they could have put more of a hurt on the Indians, leaving a whopping 13 runners on base, but when you're getting so many on, you're bound to score enough to win. The men left on base isn't any reason for concern. Instead, the number of baserunners in the game is to be commended. It's not like five runs is a low total, given how the Indians have pitched all postseason. Given the number of runners on base, this is the most any team has gotten to the Tribe's pitching staff in the 2016 playoffs.
"Everyone grinded," Rizzo said. "I think we had guys on pretty much every inning other than the last two. Just put pressure on them."
"We battled," Zobrist said. "That was a big part of it offensively. We knew we needed to find ways to get on base. We worked at-bats. We took our walks and we got a lot of guys on base."
Again, the overshadowed Rizzo and Zobrist worked several key plate appearances in racking up those baserunners.
This wasn't all "just doing the little things" from the three-hole and cleanup hitters of the Cubs -- after all, they each had an extra-base hit for an RBI -- but they did the little things in addition to the big ones. They were overshadowed in doing so, but that doesn't make them any less important as the Cubs now shift to Wrigley Field to host a World Series game for the first time since the Truman administration.
