Addison Russell's walk-off homer seals Cubs' comeback over Brewers

The Cubs’ recent play may not be worthy of praise, but they’re certainly playing up to the inscription on their World Series rings. The phrase “WE NEVER QUIT” adorns the shank of the band and after snapping a four-game losing streak, the Cubs have once again shown why that’s been their message for the last year as they won 7-4 in walk-off fashion on Wednesday.

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Less than 24 hours after the wind blew out on a pleasant mid-70-degree Tuesday evening at Wrigley, it was a chilly, rainy, typical Chicago spring day. After a 55-minute rain delay, the Cubs found themselves in a near-immediate hole for the third-consecutive game, as Kyle Hendricks allowed a walk and a two-run homer in the first inning. He would go on to allow another home run and three more walks, looking nothing like the command-based, ground-ball heavy pitcher who led baseball in ERA last season. But thanks to a bullpen that worked four shutout innings and an offense that kept pushing, the Cubs came away with a win over the Milwaukee Brewers to climb back over .500 at 8-7.

“It was a tough day all around,” manager Joe Maddon said. “Sitting around for the rain, Kyle still not on top of his game yet, the bullpen kind of been extended a little bit, opportunities [but] we just can’t get the big knock. But we just keep coming back for more. One of those ugly wins, but you’ll take them any day of the week. It is the resiliency, it is the fact that we do not quit. It’s on the ring, we don’t quit, it’s on the ring, man. And that’s a perfect example today.”

The Cubs scored lone runs in the second, sixth and eighth innings with opportunities to put up crooked numbers, but were unable to get the big hit. That is, until Addison Russell came to bat with game-tying run having already crossed the plate and two men on base. Brewer closer Neftali Feliz fell behind 2-0 to Russell before throwing him a 97-mph heater on the inner half of the plate. The young shortstop turned on the pitch and sent it into the left-field seats to give the Cubs their fourth series win out of five on the season.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” Russell said. “Something over the middle of the plate to start me out. He threw me two sliders away, I was looking for something a little bit more in. He gave in and threw a fastball.”

Even with the big knock, plus a bloop RBI single poked into right field an inning earlier (Maddon referred to it as the ultimate “B-hack”), Russell is hitting just .254 on the season with a .290 on-base percentage. Kris Bryant has a so-so .748 OPS and has yet to get in a real rhythm at the plate. Kyle Schwarber is striking out 33.8 percent of the time and Ben Zobrist is hitting just .188. And yet, the Cubs are still winning their fair share of games, just a stone’s throw from having the best record in baseball – which may say more about the general parity that appears to be happening around the league, at least in the early goings of the season.

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“It’s really big,” Maddon said of the team banking wins despite not playing their best baseball. “It’s not like we’re playing poorly. When you don’t hit, sometimes the definition is that you’re not playing well. We’re just not hitting up to our capabilities yet. The defense has been really good, the starting pitching has been really good. We will start to hit, that’s going to happen. And as these bullpen dudes get their confidence, I see that showing up really soon. We got off really well, 6-3. Lost three games to Pittsburgh, that’s it, that’s the bad, that’s where we stubbed our toes. But it’s not like we played horribly.”

The Cubs are third in the NL in on-base percentage, but where they’re really a bit down is on the power side — 11th in slugging and 12th in home runs. That’s a bit unexpected with names like Schwarber, Bryant and Rizzo kicking things off. Maddon admitted that his offense can thrive on the back of home runs, though last season they scored just 39.2 percent of their runs via the homer, 19th in baseball, and still managed to score over 800 runs. The Cubs may not live and die by the home run, but they’re certainly not living up to their over-the-fence potential.

There’s no one who doubts that part of the game will turn around for them, particularly when the weather warms up and Wrigley becomes less fickle. And when it does, there’s a good chance they’ll rip off some long winning streaks and start looking more like the Cubs that dominated for much of 2016. For now, they’ll take wins any way they can get them. And if they find themselves seemingly out of a game early, they’re sure to figure some way to get back into it.

“We feel very strongly about that,” Russell said about the team’s never-quit attitude. “When you count us out, we have a spark. It just takes one hit, one walk and we get rolling.”

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