Rizzo: Cubs lineup’s opening salvo ‘sign of good things to come’

ANAHEIM, Calif. – It took all of one game for the Cubs to show what everybody else had been talking about when it comes to the length and ability of this upgraded lineup.

Even before a dominant Jake Arrieta took the mound in Monday’s season opening victory over the Angels, the Cubs had a lead on Dexter Fowler’s leadoff double and Anthony Rizzo’s two-out run-scoring single.

By the time the night was over, the Cubs had a 9-0 victory on the strength of, yes, Arrieta, but also a deep and balanced lineup that produced 11 hits, seven walks and 17 total bases.

“Putting one on the board in the first inning’s huge, especially to start the season off in a series like this against a good team on the road,” Arrieta said. “Huge night from our offense. Incredible at-bats. That’s the tone that we want to set early.”

Fowler reached four times. Everybody but Kyle Schwarber reached at least once. Miguel Montero hit a two-run homer in the sixth.

And Matt Szczur, the former Villanova football star who entered as a defensive replacement an inning after ‘Nova won the NCAA tournament, drove home three more runs with a two-out double in the ninth.

“That was outstanding, the whole offense,” said manager Joe Maddon, who was even impressed with several of the strikeouts by his lineup. “We struck out 12 times, but it was still a great approach. We really battled. We saw a ton of pitches.”

More than 20 per inning, in fact – 188 total. Angels starter Garrett Richards needed 97 to get through five innings.

“The way we grinded out at-bats today it’s the winning formula,” said Rizzo, who walked twice and scored. “I know we scored a lot of runs, but you see pitches like we saw pitches and grind at-bats and work counts to 3-2, it’s a sign of good things to come. We do that for 162-plus, it’s going to be really fun.”

Whether they get shut out Tuesday or put up another 10 runs, a lineup with four second-year players and a pair of grizzled veterans added this year (in Ben Zobrist, Jason Heyward) at least showed what’s possible over the next six months or more.

Never mind what Arrieta, Justin Grimm and Travis Wood had to say about the pitching staff.

“We prepared for this,” Arrieta said, “for a long time. Obviously through spring training, but after the last game of the season we played in the NLCS, we were ready for this moment. Guys came into camp ready, with a game plan, well prepared.

“Now we need to carry this over to tomorrow, and so on and so forth.

“I think we set the tone pretty nicely for ourselves.”