CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – APRIL 23: Alfonso Rivas #36 of the
Chicago Cubs is congratulated by Patrick Wisdom #16 of the Chicago Cubs following his three run home run during the second inning of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field on April 23, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
After losing four straight games, all Chicago Cubs fans wanted to see was them scrape out some kind of win to stop the bleeding. That is especially since they are playing a Pittsburgh Pirates team that has no business beating the Cubs as badly as they had in the series up to that point.
Well, they stopped the bleeding in a big way. The Chicago Cubs defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates by a final score of 21-0. It was as incredible of a performance as the team has ever had in a regular-season game. Since 1901, it is the largest shutout victory in the history of the franchise.
Every single player in the starting lineup had one hit or more and one run scored or more. It is only the 39th time that the Cubs have done it and it is the first time that they have done it since March 31st, 2019. It was nothing short of a magical day.
It was the first truly nice day (in terms of weather) at Wrigley Field this season and the Cubs took advantage. We know about the flaws on the roster but none of them were exposed by Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Each member of the starting lineup has 1+ hit and 1+ run for the Cubs. Only the 39th time since 1901 the Cubs have done that (first since 3/31/2019).
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) April 23, 2022
The Chicago Cubs had as good of a day as they are ever going to have again.
Kyle Hendricks started the game on the mound. He had a tremendous 7.0 inning performance where he only allowed two hits and had no walks. It’s not bad at all for a guy who only had two strikeouts in the contest. The soft contact method was his friend in this one.
Sean Newcomb and Scott Effross came in and shut the door in the eighth and ninth inning to help the Cubs preserve the shutout. It was as low-pressure baseball as any of them are ever going to play again in their life.
In terms of offense, everyone deserves praise. Everyone, as mentioned before, had a hit including Michael Hermosillo who was a pinch hitter. It was truly fun to watch for any Cubs fans. Alfonso Rivas had five RBIs on three hits while Nico Hoerner collected four hits himself just to highlight some of the biggest performances of everyone.
You can tell that Cubs fans enjoyed this performance as well. People all over the internet took note of this great performance as they should. It is literally something that you can go a lifetime without ever seeing.
Now, the Cubs need to pretend it didn’t happen when they take the field against the Pirates on Sunday. They are still in danger of losing the series so they need to come out with the same energy. They won’t score 21 again but they can try to pull out the win. Justin Steele will be on the mound in this one.
