Going, going, Yan! Gomes slugs Cubs over Padres
CHICAGO — Yan Gomes pumped an arm and let loose a yell as he closed in on second base within the second inning on Tuesday evening. With the best way the wind was howling inwards at Wrigley Field, the Cubs catcher was as shocked as anybody that his deep fly had discovered the bleachers.
Out of the field, Gomes watched Padres middle fielder Trent Grisham slowing his pursuit, however assumed it was a deke.
“I was almost 99 percent sure that Trent Grisham was sandbagging me,” Gomes stated after the Cubs’ 6-0 victory. “I was like, ‘Oh great, I thought I hit that well.’ I turned the corner there at first base screaming, because I had no idea it was going to go.”
That is simply how issues have been going of late for Gomes, who’s driving a sizzling streak on the plate and guiding a robust begin to the season for the North Siders and their pitching employees. Tuesday was simply the most recent instance of Gomes’ impression on the early a part of this Cubs’ season.
Offensively, Gomes churned out 4 hits, together with the two-run homer off Blake Snell early and an RBI single within the eighth that sparked a batch of 4 insurance coverage runs. Behind the plate, the catcher helped Justin Steele and 4 relievers to the Cubs’ fifth shutout win of the yr. Gomes has began 4 of these blankings.
Cubs supervisor David Ross was requested how a lot worth Gomes brings when he’s acting on either side of the ball.
“A ton of value. I don’t know if you want a dollar figure. That’s not my area,” Ross stated to laughter. “He’s very important to us behind the plate. He’s very important to us in the clubhouse. When he hits, it’s a huge bonus for us.”
That will get to the center of Gomes’ personal mindset as a catcher.
When he was a younger, up-and-coming catcher with Cleveland, Gomes stated supervisor Terry Francona confused the significance of main a pitching employees. Building rapport with the arms and specializing in game-calling and protection got here first. Anything Gomes did within the batter’s field was — as Francona stated then and Ross repeats now — a bonus.
“Tito taught me that when we were very young,” Gomes stated not too long ago. “I was taking pride in that, if I do something at the plate, great. Obviously, it’s going to get pointed out, but mainly, if we’re celebrating the game with a win, we feel like we all did our jobs.”
Gomes constructed a robust repute in that method in Cleveland, the place he was Corey Kluber’s major catcher in the course of the righty’s two Cy Young seasons. That continued in his time with the Nationals, with whom he helped information a employees to a World Series triumph within the 2019.
Throughout his profession, although, Gomes has nonetheless been a risk with the bat. Don’t neglect, this can be a catcher who received a Silver Slugger Award for his offensive work again in ’14. He was an All-Star in ’18 and has had an extended checklist of clutch moments all through his dozen seasons within the Majors.
“There’s real thump in that bat,” Ross stated. “The quality at-bat after quality at-bat here lately has been really impressive.”
With his 4-for-4 displaying towards the Padres, the 35-year-old Gomes is now batting .441/.457/.794 over his final eight video games. That included a three-hit, two-homer efficiency with a stolen base in L.A. on April 14 that Steele dubbed, “The Yan Gomes Game.”
Gomes arrived to the Friendly Confines on Tuesday hitting .255 with a .754 OPS on the season, and went dwelling batting .309 with an .898 OPS on the younger marketing campaign. And when he was not accumulating a success, he was serving to Steele enhance to 4-0 with a 1.19 ERA.
For his profession, Steele now has a 1.40 ERA with 70 strikeouts and 15 walks in 58 innings when working with Gomes. That contains the 5 1/3 shutout frames he spun towards a sturdy Padres 9 in Tuesday’s victory.
“Yan’s awesome,” Steele stated. “He’s actually, in several conditions, helped me out quite a few occasions. It’s superior having him again there behind the plate, as a result of — him and Tucker [Barnhart] each — they’re each placing within the work, extra work than I’m, on the opposing lineups and stuff.
“That’s a really good feeling being out on the bump and knowing that.”
And that will get to the center of Gomes’ priorities because the Cubs’ catcher.
“I never try to expect too much,” the catcher stated of his offensive output in his second yr with Chicago. “If anything, it would be [that] I’m more comfortable with our pitching staff, getting to know guys a little bit more. I take way more pride in that than with the hitting side.”
