It's no guarantee that things would have gone the same in the top of the ninth inning, but because of another ridiculous base-running maneuver by Javier Baez the Chicago Cubs were able to beat the San Diego Padres 5-4 on Friday.
We've said it numerous times, but everything seems to be going right for Baez in 2018. He had two more extra-base hits yesterday, homering to right field and then knocking a triple down the right-field line to start the eighth inning too.
The relay throw to third base got there in plenty of time and Baez should have been out, but once again El Mago came out on top.
He scored on an Ian Happ sac-fly and that ended up being the difference in the game. Earlier the Cubs had a couple base running moves go against them, although they did get lucky when Tommy La Stella was clearly tagged out at home, but was called safe. The Padres couldn't ask for a review because they had already lost a challenge in the second inning. Kyle Schwarber was caught between second and third base after a ground out that ended a previous inning and then Anthony Rizzo tried to advance to third base on the La Stella scoring play. It didn't appear as though time was called, so Rizzo actually made a great heads up play to just run to third with no one paying attention. Unfortunately, Rizzo was called back to second base after the umpires had a brief meeting about it. After the game, Rizzo revealed what he said when that play went against him, joking that if it was Baez, he probably would have ended up scoring.
"He's just such a good heads up base runner. It's amazing what he does. When we try to emulate him, we all probably look a little silly, but it's just the way we play. We play fun and reckless."And you can thank Joe Maddon for always standing in Baez's corner from day one, never trying to change what makes El Mago a special player.
There's only one Javier Baez.
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