Kris Bryant, offense cranks it up again for CubsRussell Dorseyon June 23, 2021 at 4:35 am

Cubs starter Adbert Alzolay delivers against the Padres on Wednesday at Wrigley Field.
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Along with Bryant, Willson Contreras and Patrick Wisdom knocked home runs as Cubs string together some much needed hits.

After a rough stretch at the plate, the Cubs were looking for a game in which they could turn things around on offense. They got it Tuesday, stringing some hits together when they needed them in a 7-1 victory over the visiting Indians.

Kris Bryant got it started in the fourth inning with a solo home run for the Cubs’ first hit and first run. The blast broke a streak of 48 straight at-bats without an extra-base hit — the longest of Bryant’s career.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets hot here real soon after the at-bats I saw [Monday],” manager David Ross said before the game.

Said Bryant: “I’m just trying to be a little more patient. [They’re] not really throwing me much over the middle of the plate. The last few games, I’ve gotten some pitches to hit, but sometimes you’ve just got to be a little patient and take walks. Three in two games is pretty good. So, yeah, I feel good with those results.”

More offense came in the sixth after starter Kyle Hendricks (10-4) threw six scoreless innings — good for his eighth consecutive win. The Cubs sent nine men to the plate in the sixth, scoring four runs on RBI doubles by Joc Pederson and Javy Baez and Willson Contreras’ RBI single.

“It’s a long season, and putting together an inning like that, it’s good for us,” Contreras said. “That’s small ball. Javy had a nice at-bat, swinging at the first two pitches and [making] an adjustment. We’ve been getting better and better.”

Contreras and Patrick Wisdom added back-to-back homers in the eighth to extend the lead — the Cubs’ fourth set of back-to-back homers this season.

Cubs pitchers adjusting to MLB’s new foreign substance policy, mid-game checks

Pitchers across baseball have been adjusting to life under MLB’s new foreign substance guidelines. Last week, the league sent out a memo to all 30 teams that they would be cracking down on the use of a variety of substances including products like Spider Tack, Pelican Grip and different combinations of pine tar, sunscreen and rosin.

The rules change took effect on Monday and as each pitcher entered the game or finished an inning, they were met by the umpires before entering the dugout

“We’ve got all the protocols and things we’ve got to go through to be prepared for the new kind of protocols that are in place,” manager David Ross said. “I think it’s a big wait and see for a lot of us. Guys are going to get checked. Guys are all aware of how it’s going to be done. We’ve passed out the memos, we’ve had the discussions. And now it’s just kind of in the umpire’s hands and we’ll see how it all goes down.”

Under the league’s new guidelines, players who are caught using foreign substances will be suspended for 10 games. Right-hander Adbert Alzolay, who pitched 4 2/3 innings on Monday, was the first Cubs pitcher to be checked under the league’s new rules and didn’t have any issues with the new process..

“It was pretty normal,” Alzolay said. “I guess that’s what MLB wants to do, so they just checked my hat, checked my glove and made sure everything was okay. But I feel it was normal. It was easy.

“[The umpires] are out there doing their job too, you know. They gotta make sure to follow the protocol, so I thought that they were fine with that too.”

As expected, the change has already been followed by a drop in spin rates around the game and as pitchers have to adjust, hitters will likely continue to see an increase in production, which had taken a dip this season.

“The information so far in the last 10 days, batting average has gone up, on base has gone up, slug has gone up,” Ross said. “Spin rates are down on fastballs and breaking balls and hit by pitches are exactly the same. So you draw your own conclusions.”

Rizzo gets the night off

First baseman Anthony Rizzo didn’t play in the second of a two-game set against the Indians. Ross has attempted to string together days off for players by sitting them at the back end of a series before a scheduled team day off. Rizzo is slashing .252/.347/.443 with nine home runs and 31 RBI.

“He’s been going pretty hard,” Ross said. “I pencil him in pretty regularly and was trying to find him an off day at some point and earmarked [Tuesday] if it looked like everybody else was healthy and we could have a pretty good lineup. It made sense to give him a day.”

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