Game Highlights: Cubs Win Game One vs. Detroit! | 8/20/24

It's the opener of a three game set between the Cubs and Detroit Tigers, meaning Javier Baez is back at the friendly confines for the first time since being traded in 2021. Really cool stuff, a warm ovation for a guy who is a big part of the World Series winning team in 2016. For Assad, he's got to be a strike thrower. Here as of late, his last three starts, he's not gotten through the fifth inning, and it's mainly because of pitch count and not throwing enough strikes. Parker Meadows takes ball four, it's a walk to open the game from Assad. Runner goes, ground ball to second, the throw goes to second, not in time, and the throw to first is in time. By sending the runner Meadows, the Tigers stay out of the double play. First right-handed batter of the game, Matt Vierling. This one popped up right side, and Bush wanders in onto the green grass and makes the catch, and there's two down. And it brings up the cleanup batter, Kerry Carpenter. See you later, nice pitch. Assad able to get Carpenter. Alex Fajedo getting the opening assignment tonight, and let's see if he can make the adjustment. Bobby, it has been a struggle his last two starts. Swing and a miss, strike three. Beautifully planted fastball by Fajedo to the top of the zone to the outside corner. Michael Bush, four for 22 over his last seven games, a 182 average, no home runs. Swing and a soft ground ball to second, to his right, Cole Keithfield. The waist-high bounce flips it to first, two up and two down. And while the Cubs had two out, nobody on, there are two on now. Two on, two outs for the ex-Tiger, Isak Paredes, just traded here from Tampa. Swing and a high pop-up. Bobby Baez onto the outfield. The wind will bring it back to the infield dirt, and he'll make the catch. Long inning for Alex Fajedo, but he works out of a jam. We've got a man at first with one away, and the batter is Jace Young. Jace Young to left field. All he's done is go four for ten with three walks in the start of his major league career, Dan. Dylan Dingler, 25-year-old catcher for the Tigers. Ground ball up the middle, a base hit into center. Torkelson around third, up for the ball is Crow Armstrong. His throw is cut off on the infield. Sharp single to center for Dylan Dingler. Tigers take a 1-0 lead in the second. Yeah, nice job by Dylan Dingler again. I like the approach of these young Tigers early in this game. Don't try to do too much with the side. When you try to get big, guys like him take advantage of you. They're not trying to do it. Take the ball, hit it hard up the middle, and that base hit right there scores a run. Fans rise for Javi Baez. Javi knows as well as anybody that you generally don't get to choose your legacy. The game chooses it for you. But in this city, we'll always have and they'll always have 2016. What a moment for Javi. There is strike three. Assad takes care of Baez in his first at-bat back at Wrigley Field since he left. There's Kerry Carpenter now, struck out his first time. Up the middle, Swanson is there, flags it down from the outfield, and he throws it out. What a play by Dansby Swanson, taking a base hit away from Kerry Carpenter. Sliding stop 10 feet out of the outfield grass in shallow center. Then he popped up with a 360 spin and got Carpenter easily. And it's a one-out walk there to a board. And now an opportunity for Seah Suzuki, who walked his first time up. In the air, right field side. Matt Vierling coming toward the wall again. He jumps. Vierling made the catch. What a play, too. And we've been talking about the wind all game. He was underneath that ball, and it kept drifting, drifting, drifting over to the right field stands. Look at how high he got up to take that out of the stands. What a play. Now Ballinger, who's actually hit lefties very well this year. Here's a ground ball, first base side. It's Torkelson veering to the bag for round number three. The Cubs not able to cash in. Base hit, so Torkelson with a couple of singles tonight. The batter is Chase Young. A ground ball up the middle, fielded by Swanson. The toss to Nikko at second. Jump throw to first, dugout. What a nifty play by Nikko, receiving the feed from Swanson. Jump throw to first, and an excellent digout at the first base bag by Bush. 6-4-3 double play. That ends the top half of the fourth inning. 8-9-1. Here's Dylan Dingler. Javi Baez, Parker Meadows against Javier Assad. Swing the line drive to right, slicing down toward the corner. Fair ball into the corner, fielded by Ballinger as he disappears from our view. And then it gets away from Ballinger. On his way to third, Dingler, there will be no throw. A line drive into the right field corner, as Bobby described earlier. That's where the triples are, and Ballinger didn't play the hop. And it got over him, and Dingler cruised into third. First big league triple for Dylan Dingler. Here's Javier Baez, struck out swinging his first time up. Cole, strike three. Frozen with a fastball. One away. I'll be expecting and accustomed to seeing a lot of breaking pitches. Yeah, and he saw a bunch of this at bat, but then all of a sudden they go to the two-seamer, and this ball splits the plate in half. It's right down the middle. Parker Meadows now at the plate. Here's the one-two. Cole, strike three. Throws Meadows with a fastball on the outside corner, two away. Two bad A.B.s by the Tigers, not making contact with that man on third. So two down, man at third, and the batter is Riley Green. Swing and a miss, strike three. Got him with a breaking ball. And Assad works out of the jam. Dingler stranded at third base. Now the Cubs threatening, men at first and second. Cody Bellinger, the Cubs cleanup man, at the plate. He's pulled down the right field line. This will drop and roll all the way to the wall. Comes in to score. Around third and racing home is Bush. On his way to third is Bellinger, and now he's caught in a rundown between second and third, and he is tagged out. But the Cubs take the lead on the two-run double by Cody Bellinger. Dansby at .229, nine home run. And over the course of the last, oh, over a month, it's been much better. Deep drive to left off the bat of Swanson. It's got a chance. Gone. Dansby, Swanson, a long home run to left, and the Cubs now lead three to one. He got all of that one. Wind or no wind, that's going to be a home run. That's a line drive rocket. That ball goes up at least halfway up the bleachers, even into the wind. Big swing of the bat for the Cubs. Two down here in the seventh inning, and Parker Meadows is the batter. Big chop, slowly hit to a charging Horner at second. Short hop, shovels to first in time. Never did touch the ball with the bare hand. Gloved it and then just shoveled it right out of the glove. Beautiful play by Horner. Porter Hodge out to nail it down for the Chicago Cubs. The 1-0 line drive, base hit in the left. It's a four for four night for Torkelson, and this one is a rocket that gets all the way to the wall in left field in a hurry. Torkelson checks in at second base. Lead off doubled in the ninth. Potential tying run now gets the step to the plate. Jace Young, 23 years old, the same age as the pitcher he's facing. Outside corner, got him, and Young can't believe it. Struck him out. The 12th Tiger to strike out tonight. A handful of them have been looking. One out of the ninth. Tigers have made a habit of coming back late. Pop fly, right side, easy play for Horner. This is going to be out number two. Two gone, Tigers down to their last chance, and you knew it would be Javier Baez, right? Absolutely. It is. You can hear some of the crowd chanting Javi. They love them. Some Javi when he was playing here for the Cubs. Swing and a miss. Strike three, and the ball game is over. Cubs win it. Baez strikes out for the fourth time in the game, and the Cubs win game one in this series by a score of 3-1.