Welcome to today’s episode of Cub Tracks news and notes™, featuring material from current beat writers, bloggers, and the occasional in-house habitué, moonlighting. These pieces center around #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball.
Crafty veteran southpaw Drew Smyly faced the Reds and promising young Cuban pitcher Vladimir Gutierrez Monday at the Great American Ballpark. Smyly applied a little magic to get out of the first, where he wasn’t exactly sharp, and Nick Senzel robbed Ian Happ of extras for a pulse-pounding beginning, and away we went... it was nice to be able to see the game, which continued on in that relatively quiet manner, with the pitchers telling the story, until the Cubs dialed up some exit velo in the top of the fourth after a Mike Moustakas miscue.