ARLINGTON, Texas — Cubs closer Adbert Alzolay turned to watch the line-drive fly into right fielder Seiya Suzuki’s glove. Suzuki squeezed the ball, and it was official. The Cubs had won their first game of the season.
Alzolay gave his first fist-pump celebration.
“Needed it,” he said. “The boys needed it.”
The Cubs wrapped up their opening series against the defending champion Rangers with a 9-5 victory Sunday. After floundering early in the game on defense, which is usually the bread and butter of this group’s identity, the Cubs settled into an ideal version of themselves.
In the second half of the game, the bullpen shut down the Rangers, with the help of solid play in the field. And in the ninth inning, the Cubs ground out long at-bats to take a comfortable lead.
“We were back and forth for the whole game,” Alzolay said. “And then being able to come back later in the game, and then give the ball back to the manager for his first win as a Cub is huge for us.”
Manager Craig Counsell is heading to Chicago for the home opener against the Rockies with a 1-2 record at the helm.
The Cubs put together their best offensive performance of the year, totaling 12 hits on the way to scoring almost twice as many runs as they had in their previous two games combined.
A pair of errors, however, compounded some of rookie starter Jordan Wicks’ misses. He was charged with five runs — three of which were unearned — in four innings.
Third baseman Christopher Morel, who hit a three-run homer in the first inning, made an errant throw in the second. Then Wicks walked the Rangers’ eight- and nine-spot hitters with two outs. The lineup turned over, and leadoff hitter Marcus Semien drove in two runs.
To begin the fourth, the Rangers’ Jared Walsh hit a line-drive single into right field. Then Evan Carter struck a grounder up the middle, past Wick’s glove as he stabbed at it. The grounder was shaping up to be an easy flip for shortstop Dansby Swanson to at least throw out the lead runner, if not start a double play. But the two-time Gold Glover couldn’t handle the hop, and the ball ended up in center field.
Walsh made it to third base and Carter to first. Swanson stood behind second base, looking back and forth from home plate to the outfield, seemingly puzzled.
Later in the inning, Semien and Wyatt Langford lined back-to-back base hits to the wall, for a one-run double and two-run triple, respectively. And the Rangers tied the game at 5.
“We obviously know Dansby is going to play great defense,” Counsell said. “There’s no question about that.”
Case in point, Swanson robbed Semien of a base hit in the eighth. Sliding into the gap between third and shortstop, Swanson made a backhanded grab at the edge of the grass and fired across the diamond for the second out of a scoreless inning.
The Rangers brought in closer Jose Leclerc, and the Cubs’ offense broke out.
“We put really good pressure on them today in a whole bunch of innings,” Counsell said. “And that’s going to lead to good offense.”
Working deep counts against Leclerc, the Cubs loaded the bases. And with two outs, Ian Happ stepped into the box.
“Really good pitcher,” Happ said. “Has been doing it for a long time. He’s got a deep mix … and so, it’s kind of any pitch anytime. After I got down 1-2, it was just kind of trying to stay alive and get something I can handle.”
He battled out a seven-pitch go-ahead walk. Then Suzuki and Cody Bellinger roped singles off reliever Josh Smith, Leclerc’s replacement, to expand the lead to four before Alzolay took the mound. But he wouldn’t need the insurance.
