May 20, 2022;
Chicago, Illinois, USA; Former Chicago Cubs pitcher Fergie Jenkins stands at Wrigley Field after his statue was unveiled. The statue will stand with other Cubs players outside the stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY
SportsThe greatest Chicago Cubs pitcher of all time is Fergie Jenkins. He was so good that you would have to consider him to be Chicago royalty for the rest of time. On Friday, he was honored with a statue revealed outside of Wrigley Field before their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Jenkins had a career that spanned from 1965-1983. Some of the best years (10 of them) were spent with the Chicago Cubs. He also spent time with the Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, and Boston Red Sox. Throughout his career, he was dominant.
He was the Cy Young Award winner with the Chicago Cubs in 1971. He was also a multi-time All-Star and eventually was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He is one of only a handful of players all-time to record over 3000 strikeouts and fewer than 1000 walks. It was great to see him honored in this way.
There was a game to be played as well. The Cubs were looking to tie their series with the Diamondbacks in this one but they would come up short as they were defeated by a final score of 10-6. It was as strange of a game as you could imagine for one big reason.
The Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks tied a Wrigley Field HR record.
This game tied the Wrigley Field record for most home runs hit in a game there. There were 11 total between the Diamondbacks and the Cubs. Unfortunately, seven of them were off the bat of Arizona players and four were off the bat of Chicago players. That wasn’t good enough.
Kyle Hendricks was the most concerning part of this game for the Cubs. He gave up four of the seven home runs hit by Arizona. It just wasn’t his best game ever and performances like this are becoming more usual for him than he would like to see.
It was certainly a good hitting day in terms of weather so this isn’t all that surprising but you’d like to see Cubs pitchers keep the long ball down a little bit more. Maybe Jenkins could have gone out there and suited up for an inning or two.
This game did have a few exciting moments for the Cubs though. They had a chance to tie it at nine with a Grand Slam the game in the 7th inning but Alfonso Rivas struck out with the bases loaded. The threat was then over as there were two outs.
Willson Contreras also decided to get ejected for arguing balls and strikes with the umpire. Once he was tossed, he got his money’s worth as he drew himself a new strike zone around home plate and Gronk spiked his bat into the dirt. It was honestly incredibly entertaining to watch.
The Cubs now are losers of three straight to bring their record to 15-23. There are going to be stretches like this as they are going through a lot of changes. However, there are some exciting things to hang your hat on like the red hot play of Christopher Morel.
