Article: Cubs 4, Brewers 0: Stroman, Swanson Lead Cubs to Opening Day Win

[Seth Stohs]

Marcus Stroman was strong on the mound on Opening Day. Dansby Swanson came up big with the glove and the bat in his Cubs debut. The Cubs used one big inning and some Brewers misplays to take a 4-0 Opening Day win. 

Box Score
SP: Marcus Stroman: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K (69 pitches, 41 strikes (59.4%)
Home Runs: None
Top 3 WPA: Marcus Stroman (.248), Dansby Swanson (.137), Trey Mancini (.104). 
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Stro Starts Strong!  
Opening Day is a lot of things, but one of those things is it generally pits some aces against one another. That was definitely the case in this game as the Cubs sent Marcus Stroman to the mound to face Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes and the Brewers. 

In the first inning, he struck out three batters. The second inning went well. He found a way to get out of a rough situation in the third inning (see the next section!), and that really seemed to get him going. 

Following the Cubs four-run third inning, Stroman did exactly what you would hope he would do. He had a very quick fourth inning, and another in the fifth as well. He went out for the sixth inning and got a groundout and ended with two strikeouts. As he walked off the mound, he implored the crowd, clearly excited about his first start of the season. 

Stroman had eight strikeouts in the game, but that isn't really his game. His game is getting groundballs, and in this game, he got seven groundball outs and no fly outs. That was vintage Marcus Stroman on Thursday, and the Cubs hope to get that version as often as possible this season. 

Keystone Combo Comes Up Big in Third Frame
In the top of the third inning, Marcus Stroman got into a little trouble. The Brewers loaded the bases with one out. Rowdy Tellez grounded to freshly-paid Nico Hoerner who threw to Dansby Swanson at second who threw to first base for an inning-ending double play. A terrific play kept the Brewers off the scoreboard. 

With a runner on first, Hoerner came to the plate and lined a single to right field for the Cubs first hit of the season. Miles Mastrobuoni raced from first to third base. Swanson came to first and lined a single to right field to score Mastrobuoni, and a misplay allowed Hoerner to score from first base. 

The Cubs kept taking advantage. Soon after, Trey Mancini singled to score Swanson. They they got more help when Yan Gomes hit a bounding ball up the middle. Willy Adames fielded it and decided to take the ball to second base himself, but Mancini got there first, allowing the fourth run of the inning to score. 

Dandy Debut for Dansby
Along with the big plays in the third inning, Swanson had a nice day at the plate for the Cubs. He went 3-for-4 with the bat, and he made a couple of really nice plays at shortstop. 

A few other players made their Cubs' debut on Thursday. Cody Bellinger went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Trey Mancini went 1-for-3 with a strikeout and was also hit by a pitch. Eric Hosmer went 0-for-4, though he had an RBI. Miles Mastrobuoni went 0-for-3 in the game. 

What’s Next? 
After taking Friday off, the Cubs will send Justin Steele to the mound on Saturday to face Brandon Woodruff and the Brewers at 1:20 in Wrigley. 

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	TOT
Fulmer	0	0	0	0	15	15
Boxberger	0	0	0	0	14	14
Thompson	0	0	0	0	14	14
Wesneski	0	0	0	0	0	0
Leiter	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rucker	0	0	0	0	0	0
Merryweather	0	0	0	0	0	0
Assad	0	0	0	0	0	0
Alzolay	0	0	0	0	0	0

Feel free to discuss the Cubs win in Game 1. 161 more to go to 162-0. 

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[Brock Beauchamp]

16 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

I’m a fan of this…the post game recap and FA signings showing out

Hard to argue with the very early results of the Swanson contract, especially considering his uffda spring. 

[CubinNY]

2 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Hard to argue with the very early results of the Swanson contract, especially considering his uffda spring. 

"uffda", that's such an upper midwest word. I love it. I don't think I've heard since I was a kid on family vacations in North Dakota. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

2 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

"uffda", that's such an upper midwest word. I love it. I don't think I've heard since I was a kid on family vacations in North Dakota. 

I was born in the UP. Half my family has a daily quota of 20 uffdas.