Anthony Rizzo has a very particular set of skills, skills that he acquired over a very long career. On Friday night, those skills made Anthony Rizzo a nightmare for the San Diego Padres.
Despite riding a 0-for-19 streak entering Friday's series opener and then going hitless in his first two at-bats, Rizzo showed that he's not completely helpless. We saw the good old fashioned Rizzo in his second at-bat, when he worked a nine-pitch plate appearance before grounding out.
In the fifth, Rizzo finally snapped his 0-for-21 hitless streak, lining a hard single to right-center field over the shift. Although Rizzo made an out, he was able to break up a double play at second and that led to a bad throw, putting Albert Almora Jr. at second with two outs. Kris Bryant then tied the game with a double.
Rizzo also made a couple slick plays on defense, which has been the norm for him but during the rough stretch at the plate he seemed to carry the struggles to the field too. Anyway, we saw vintage Rizzo once again, as he drove a double down the left-field line in the seventh.
Then, with two outs in the ninth and the Padres looking to take the game, Rizzo rescued the Cubs with a game-tying double in the left-center field gap that scored Jason Heyward from first base.
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Earlier in the game Rizzo was caught on camera answering the phone in the dugout and well it was too good not to do this.
Great minds think alike.🔊🔊🔊 #Cubs pic.twitter.com/vofNMSTrNw
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) July 14, 2018
So, yes Javier Baez worked his magic again in the 10th inning, scoring the game-winning run from first base on a stolen base attempt, but it was only made possible because of Rizzo.
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