Chicago Cubs blast their way to victory; Extend Wild Card lead

Just a day before the Texas Longhorns and Notre Dame opened up their season with a heavyweight showdown, fans from both teams decided to stop by Wrigley Field to check out the Chicago Cubs as they took on the Arizona Diamondbacks.

No matter where the camera was facing, you’d see college football fans representing their favorite team. Even Len Kasper started to receive tweets from faithful followers of both teams and even a few others were thrown in the mix.

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It sounded like it was a bit overwhelming for Chicago’s popular TV play-by-play man, but he handled it pretty well. What fans in attendance witnessed yesterday, was Cubs team that were locked and loaded as they launched four big flies in the 14-5 victory over the D’backs.

Although Addison Russell was the player of the game with his first career multi-home run performance, you’d have to say Javier Baez was rather impressive as well. Baez clubbed a two-run shot shortly after Anthony Rizzo properly unloaded the bases with his 27th tater of the season.

Usually when Javier is down 0-2 in the count, the end result would be him swinging and missing on the third strike of the at-bat. That didn’t happen yesterday.

In fact, his entire approach at the plate was spectacular all around. Sure, he nearly swung out of his shoes for the second time on the homestand, the first coming against Aroldis Chapman when the Cincinnati Reds were in town.

It appears as if he has fixed his approach in the batter’s box. He worked a walk in his first at-bat of the game which not only surprised those who were watching but somewhat felt like we had just witnessed a miracle..

I apologize if that sounds harsh.

He’s expected to be in today’s lineup and should be looking to duplicate his performance with Jake Arrieta on the mound. Who knows, maybe the young buck will become a part of history if Arrieta is able to record his second consecutive no-hitter.

Yesterday’s win helped them out, and they received additional help from the Colorado Rockies who defeated the San Francisco Giants. The defending World Champions now trail the Cubs by 7.5 games for the second and final N.L. Wild Card spot.

They’re currently riding a six-game losing streak entering today, so the Cubs will need to make sure they walk away with the victory to increase that number.

Here’s more from around the league:

‘Cubs’ Addison Russell is maturing before our eyes‘ – Cubbies Crib

‘Cubs: The mess that is the backend of the rotation‘ – Cubbies Crib

‘Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks has been a mixed bag in 2015‘ – Cubbies Crib

‘Red Sox Recap: Joe Kelly earns 7th straight win‘ – BoSox Injection

‘Colorado Rockies win on Jorge De La Rosa’s great start‘ – Rox Pile

Next: Russell, Cubs hammer D'backs in win

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