Chicago Cubs, Jason Heyward turn the tables on the Padres with 11-1 win

When the Chicago Cubs went out and signed top outfield free agent Jason Heyward to that massive eight-year, $184 million contract, almost everybody stopped what they were doing. It was an identical deal that Joe Mauer and the Minnesota Twins agreed to just six years ago.

And at the time, Mauer’s new contract was the fourth-largest in baseball history. Not to say that Heyward’s is up there with it, just a little interesting fact to toss out there for those who were interested.

Yesterday, the Cubs and Padres battled it out in Mesa, Arizona but it was the visiting team who walked away with a massive eight-run victory over the North Siders. These two teams are currently at the bottom of the Cactus League standings with the defending World Series Champions just ahead of them by one game.

Heyward ended the game 2-for-4 with three RBI which came via two RBI doubles. His first came at the top of the first inning, knocking in lead-off man Dexter Fowler who originally ended up standing on third.

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Fowler made his way home on an error by second baseman Cory Spangenberg to give Clayton Richard an early 1-0 lead. The Cubs would then kick it into second gear, driving in four more runs before the final out of the inning was recorded.

Jeimer Candelario, who has been swinging a hot bat for the Cubs, recorded his third double of the spring on a line drive to left field. Heyward rounded third and made his way to home plate while Kyle Schwarber kept himself in scoring position.

Just two innings later, it was time for Heyward’s turn at bat but this time, the bases were loaded with Cubs. He took advantage of this opportunity to bust things wide open and did just that by pulling a pitch into right field, clearing the bases to make it 8-0.

Former Chicago White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez was responsible for the only Padres run. Ramirez drove in Jabari Blash from third on a sacrifice fly to left fielder John Andreoli.

Andreoli scored the final run of the ballgame on an inside-the-park home run to right field to follow Kristopher Negron‘s two-run homer.

Richard picked up his first win of the spring after giving up one hit and two walks in only two innings of work. The 32-year-old veteran issued both walks in the first inning of play but picked off Derek Norris at first.

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Norris was picked off by Clayton for the second out of the opening frame.

Next up for the Chicago Cubs will be a rematch of last years makeup game at Wrigley Field. Chris Denorfia launched a walk-off homer, sending  the crowd into a frenzy.

Veteran right-hander John Lackey will square off against Chris Young with the first pitch scheduled for 3:05 p.m. central time. This game will be televised on CSN, MLB.tv and MLB.com.