The Cubs outlasted the Brewers in 13 innings, 2-1, on Wednesday night. Well, part of it came on Thursday morning. Regardless, this was one of the more odd games one will see this season.
Let's start with how the runs scored. Despite the Cubs having 10 hits, drawing eight walks and getting three guys on base via a hit-by-pitch, they were only able to score in the ninth inning on a groundout and in the 13th on a bases-loaded walk to relief pitcher Travis Wood.
Speaking of Wood, he worked out of a bases-loaded, no out situation in the bottom of the 12th, thus earning both the victory and collecting the game-winning RBI.
And about that bases-loaded jam ... the Cubs were anything but ordinary in defending their way out of it.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon opted to go with five infielders to get out of a jam.
MLB TV screen shotJoe Maddon brought Kris Bryant in from left field to use five infielders with Ben Zobrist up the middle as a sort of Little League rover. The first batter in the situation was Hernan Perez, who flew out to shallow center field. Given that Dexter Fowler had to come from left-center, it looked like it might end the game, but third-base coach Ed Seder held Chris Carter at third.
After that out, Maddon elected to swap Javier Baez (who was in at first after having pinch run for Anthony Rizzo and scoring the tying run in the ninth) and Bryant. So the two had to change out gloves.
After an infield-fly rule pop-up, Bryant moved Baez back to first and Bryant back to left field, meaning they had to change gloves again. And then a pop-up ended the inning.
In the bottom of the 13th, the Brewers would actually get a leadoff double and end up stranding the tying run on third and winning run on second. The Cubs got one out per pitcher (Wood, Neil Ramirez, Clayton Richard) in the inning with Richard picking up his first career save.
Maddon used every club in his bag except his four starting pitchers who didn't start this one (John Lackey did). He even used reliever Trevor Cahill as a pinch-hitter and not on the mound at all.
It was a ridiculous game.
And it never would have come to that if not for the stellar defense of David Ross behind the plate.
Ross threw out three runners on the bases. Take a look:
He also caught Alex Presley between second and third in a rundown to end the fifth inning, meaning Ross had a hand in eliminating four Brewers baserunners in a game that would go to extra innings tied 1-1. Needless to say, that's pretty significant.
Not that this is anything new. Ross now leads the majors in pickoffs with four. No one else has more than two. Yan Gomes, Christian Vazquez and Dioner Navarro have two each and there are 12 catchers with one apiece.
Ross has also caught eight runners stealing on his own (pitcher pickoffs technically count as "CS" but we're removing those here), which trails only Jonathan Lucroy and Salvador Perez with 12 each. Let's keep in mind, too, that Ross isn't by any stretch an everyday catcher and also has to deal with Jon Lester's throw-to-first issues.
Ross also ranks third in the majors in catcher ERA at 2.15 behind Rene Rivera (who has only caught 36 innings) and A.J. Ellis of the Dodgers. Yes, he's working with a good pitching staff, but we can't discount how well he's working with them and helping to make them a good pitching staff.
It's Ross' final season and while he doesn't have even close to the stature of former teammate Big Papi, he's so far going out with a bang on a team that has started 28-10.
As for Wednesday night, don't let his performance be buried in the absurdity of the extra-innings maneuvering of Maddon. The Cubs don't get there without Ross' right arm and game-calling skills.
