Cubs Sweep Happ-ened!

Ian Happ and the boys slugged the Cardinals out of Wrigley last night with a 7–6 come from behind victory

Cubs 7 Cardinals 6 (dallasmars13 via Flickr)

After a hot start to his Cubs career, pitchers adjusted and cooled off Ian Happ’s bat to the tune of a 4–32 stretch. In fact he was struggling to even make positive contact as opposing pitchers started to bust him up in the zone. As Kyle Schwarber slid down in the lineup, Maddon pushed Happ all the way to the top in the vital role of being the table setter for Bryzzo. Perhaps not your prototypical guy for that role. It’s a move that has a high level of risk-reward. In front of Grandpa Rossy, a sold out Wrigley crowd, and a national ESPN viewing audience, Happ busted out and rewarded them with two home runs and four RBI’s to power the Cubs to a 7–6 victory and a weekend sweep of the rival Redbirds.

Kyle Hendricks cruised through the first three innings, allowing only a walk to Almedys Diaz.

Michael Wacha surrendered an Anthony Rizzo single in the first and an Addison Russell walk in the second.

After Kyle Schwarber struck out to lead off the bottom half of the third, Ian Happ wrapped the first pitch from Michael Wacha around the right field foul pole and onto Sheffield to give the Cubs a 1–0 lead.

That lead was short lived though as Hendricks walked Dexter Fowler and Matt Carpenter to start the fourth. Stephen Piscotty then drove a pitch to the left field seats to put the Cardinals ahead 3–1. Jedd Gyrko then singled to right and Yadier Molina struck out. Gyrko stole second on Miguel Montero and then Tommy Phamm struck out. Brendan DeJong singled Gyrko home and the Cards extended their lead to 4–1. Diaz promptly doubled to left, sending DeJong to third. Hendricks managed to stop the bleeding by getting Wacha to ground out Zobrist to Rizzo.

After retiring Zobrist and Heyward to open the bottom of the fourth, it appeared Wacha was going to hold serve and preserve the three run lead. But Montero coaxed a full count walk and Russel beat out a grounder for an infield single. Respect 90! Maddon pulled Hendricks in favor of Albert Almora Jr. and he responded with a single to right. Piscotty misplayed the ball and it rolled all the way into the right field corner. Montero and Russell both scored on the play and Almora Jr. wound up at third. Schwarber then coaxed a walk and that brought Happ up with a chance to do some serious damage. On a 0–1 count he responded again when he drove a Wacha offering into the right center field bleachers and put the Cubs ahead 6–4. The Friendly Confines went nuts and coaxed a curtain call out of the young center fielder. Kris Bryant struck out to end the inning.

”Awesome, awesome moment,” Happ said. ”These fans are unbelievable.”

Justin Grimm sandwiched a Piscotty walk in between three strike outs in the fifth. Hector Rondon replaced Grimm in the fifth and got roughed up. Molina singled and stole second. Phamm walked. Rondon advanced them on a wild pitch. DeJong grounded out, scoring Molina. Diaz hit a shot into the ivy in center for a ground rule double, scoring Phamm. Now 6–6, Maddon brought Pedro Strop in to try to quell the rally. He responded by getting Garcia on strikes and inducing a 6–3 ground out from Fowler to end the inning.

The score remained 6–6 to the bottom of the seventh. Rizzo and Heyward singled. Jon Jay pinch hit for Pedro Strop and dropped a single into center to score Rizzo. The Cubs grabbed the lead back 7–6.

Carl Edwards Jr. put in some strong work, setting the Cards down in order in the eighth.

With Wade Davis unavailable after two saves in the previous two wins over the Cards, Maddon called on the 43 year old Koji Uehara to close it out. A fly out and two strike outs later the W flag was going up and “Go Cubs Go” was ringing out.

The three game sweep kept the Cubs one game behind the division leading Brewers.

Joe Maddon said last year that in order to become the class of the division they would need to consistently beat the Cardinals, who admittedly have been just that in the past. The rivalry series this year stands at 6–3 in favor of the Cubbies in spite of the early season inconsistencies and sends a statement to Mike Matheny and his squad that the Cubs are serious about creating a shift in power and becoming the class of the Central Division.

Doug Preszler is the type of person who can be a Cubs fan and an Iowa fan while living in South Dakota. He is a man who cares not for regional loyalty. He can be found on Twitter @PreszlerDoug, telling tales of the Dakotan Cubs fan’s existence.