Samardzija Brilliant as Cubs Even Record Against Royals

For the fourth straight game the Cubs hitters managed greater than 13 hits as they belted out 15 Wednesday afternoon against the Royals.  The real story of the day however was Samardzija who was dominant over his three innings of work.  He came in with a pitch count of 35, and used them wisely, making it through three strong innings yielding a single base hit.  As mentioned before on this blog, command is the key for Samardzija, and he had it going all day.  In fact he has had it going all Spring, that has Sveum excited, and has Samardzija poised to make Sveum’s rotation decision awfully difficult.

At the plate the Cubs sprayed the ball all over the diamond once again, Reed Johnson, Starlin Castro, and Bryan LaHair all had two hits.  Brett Jackson also chipped in with a run scoring single to continue his hot spring.

W:  Jeff Samardzija (1-0)   L:  Jonathan Sanchez (0-1)   SV:  None

BATTING: 2B – Barney (2);  RBI – LaHair (1), Barney (4), Campana (1), Jackson (4)

Team RISP: 6-for-17; Team LOB: 8

BASERUNNING:  SB - Mather (3), Castro (1), LaHair (1), Tolbert (1);  CS - Vitters (1)

FIELDING; E – Castro (1, throw)

BATTING: 2B – Hosmer (1), Maier (1), Betancourt (1);  RBI – Hosmer (2), Betancourt (1), Ramirez 2 (6)

Team RISP: 2-for-10; Team LOB: 7

BASERUNNING:  SB - Hosmer (1); CS - Getz (1)

FIELDING; E – Moustakas 2 (2, fielding, throw), Francoeur (1, throw)

Up Next:

Cubs play host to the Mariners at HoHoKam Park, Chris Volstad will get the start. Game time is 2:05 p.m. CT. Volstad, acquired from the Marlins for Carlos Zambrano, has been working on his grip and mechanics with former Cubs pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, a guest instructor in camp. Expect regulars like Marlon Byrd and David DeJesus back in the lineup. The game will be broadcast on cubs.com. (Via Cubs.com)