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Dawning the Blues Alternate 2 uniforms; Moises Ballesteros of the Chicago Cubs got his first career hit on Friday late in the Cubs’ 13-3 victory over their crosstown rivals, the Chicago White Sox. Ballesteros was called up after Ian Happ suffered an oblique strain accompanied by a trip to the IL.
Cade Horton, a rookie pitcher whose career is running somewhat parallel to Ballesteros thus far was attacking all day with his fastball. If it wasn’t for Miguel Vargas, he would have fared much better. Vargas was effective against Horton, getting two home runs and all three RBIs against him. Horton still pitched five innings and only gave up three runs.
Offensively for the Cubs, fans didn’t have to wait long before the runs started coming home. They scored six of them in the second inning alone.
For the Love of Pete
About half of the end result was due to Pete Crow-Armstrong, who’s been nothing short of a powerhouse to this point in the season. PCA went 4-for-5 with a home run while also knocking in 6 RBIs. The wind and bad defense were contributing factors as well.
Four other players got a pair of hits on the day. That list includes Kyle Tucker, Seiya Suzuki, Carson Kelly and Nico Hoerner. Each of them has been major contributors to the Cubs’ first place run. There are 29 home runs shared between the first three names on that list after 45 games. Nico doesn’t need home runs to be effective, or to otherwise prove he’s the Chosen One.
The Ballesteros stat line gives hints of his potential. He went 1-for-4 with two runs, a hit and a pair of RBIs. Now that the ever-increasing pressure accompanied with trying to get the first hit are out of the way, he can focus on making a name for himself outside of Triple-A.
