Results tagged ‘ Chris Volstad ’

9/9 Pitching matchups vs. Astros

The Cubs travel to Houston to play the Astros, who switch to the American League next year. Here are the pitching matchups:

Monday: RHP Chris Volstad (2-10, 6.23) vs. LHP Dallas Keuchel (1-7, 5.54)

Tuesday: RHP Justin Germano (2-6, 6.95) vs. RHP Jordan Lyles (3-11, 5.55)

Wednesday: LHP Travis Wood (5-11, 4.42) vs. LHP Fernando Abad (0-3, 5.30)

 

8/31 Cubs lineup

David DeJesus, who was 3-for-4 with two walks on Thursday, gets Friday off in the Cubs’ series opener against the Giants. He’s never faced San Francisco starter Madison Bumgarner, but Joe Mather has. Here’s the lineup:

Mather RF

Vitters 3B

Rizzo 1B

Soriano LF

Castro SS

Castillo C

Jackson CF

Barney 2B

Volstad P

– Carrie Muskat

8/30 Cubs vs. Giants

Looking ahead, the Cubs play host to the Giants this weekend. It won’t be easy. Here are the pitching matchups:

Friday: RHP Chris Volstad (1-9, 6.28) vs. LHP Madison Bumgarner (14-8, 2.93)

Saturday: RHP Justin Germano (2-4, 5.91) vs. RHP Tim Lincecum (7-14, 5.30)

Sunday: LHP Travis Wood (4-11, 4.71) vs. RHP Matt Cain (13-5, 2.82)

– Carrie Muskat

8/26 Extra bases

* Chris Volstad got the win, but there were other key moments on Sunday in the 5-0 win over the Rockies. Dale Sveum was pleased with Brett Jackson’s day as he drew a walk in the second, singled in the fourth, and walked again in the eighth. He then scored on a wild pitch in the eighth. The rookie center fielder also made a nice defensive play. Sveum said Anthony Rizzo was more aggressive at the plate, which was good to see. The first baseman was 2-for-2 with two walks, including an intentional pass in the seventh. It was Rizzo’s 16th multi-hit game.

* Starlin Castro had two hits, and leads the Cubs with 38 multi-hit games. He has an extra base hit in 10 of his last 31 games. Castro also scored three runs.

* Darwin Barney ended an 0-for-15 skid with a RBI single in the sixth.

* The Cubs are 7-2 in their last nine series at Wrigley Field.

– Carrie Muskat

8/26 Volstad’s streak is over

After waiting 413 days and 24-starts without a win, the longest wait for Chris Volstad must have been the extra 30 minutes on Sunday when the umpires called for the tarp because of rain.

“The tarp being pulled in the ninth inning, it’s like, ‘C’mon, let’s get it over with,’” Volstad said. “It’s only fitting that it took pretty long, right?”

The delay gave his teammates enough time to prep for a victory shower. Volstad could finally celebrate a win Sunday, ending a string of 24 consecutive winless starts as the Cubs edged the Rockies, 5-0.

It was Volstad’s first “W” since he beat the Astros way back on July 17, 2011. If that seems like a long time ago, it was. He had to wait even longer as the start of the game was delayed 2 hours 23 minutes, and was called after eight innings and another 30-minute delay. Hopefully, he’ll get the “W” flag flying on top of the Wrigley Field scoreboard after the game.

“It was nice for him and I know that’s a huge monkey off his back,” Dale Sveum said. “I think the team was incredibly happy for him.”

Not as happy as Volstad (1-9), who was pitching for the Marlins the last time he won a game. He gave up three hits over 6 2/3 innings, striking out three and walking three. His reward? The Cubs took the series, and he was showered in beer.

“He was really excited,” Darwin Barney said of Volstad. “When you’re an offensive position player and you have a game where your team wins and you contribute and have a couple knocks, you go home feeling pretty good about yourself. He hasn’t had one of those days in a while. He hasn’t had that day when everything worked out and they didn’t get a cheap hit off him and the defense picked him up. He’s been pitching pretty consistent of late and has been just getting some bad luck, and today we were able to get him a lead,” Barney said. “It was good. I think he liked the little shower we gave him.”

The Cubs had scored one or no runs while Volstad has been on the mound in eight of his 12 starts prior to Sunday. He had not received more than three runs of support in a game until Sunday.

“The biggest thing was me putting up zeros — that’s always nice,” Volstad said. “They definitely backed me today and did a good job at the plate.”

– Carrie Muskat

8/26 Volstad’s streak

If the weather cooperates, Chris Volstad will take the mound on Sunday and try to end his 24-start winless streak, which dates back to July 17, 2011. Volstad is 0-14 during that span.

“I think he’s handled it as good as anybody can handle it,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said of Volstad. “He’s very calm and collected most of the time. He doesn’t show a lot of emotion, good or bad. He just goes about his business and works and is trying to make adjustments.

“We haven’t gotten him a lot of run support either,” Sveum said. “He’s handled everything extremely well for the adversity he’s had to go through.”

The Cubs have scored one or fewer runs while Vosltad has been on the mound in eight of his 13 starts. He has not received more than three runs of support in any of his starts this year.

The record for longest winless streak is 28 starts, shared by Jo-Jo Reyes (2008-11) and Matt Keough (1978-79).

“Hopefully it doesn’t happen,” Sveum said about Volstad reaching that mark. “We all know it’s getting closer and closer to that. Hopefully today we can just take care of it and score some runs. We have to score early and keep adding on. We have a very difficult time of doing that.”

– Carrie Muskat

8/26 Cubs lineup

Luis Valbuena is back in the lineup at third Sunday for the Cubs series finale vs. the Rockies:

DeJesus RF

Valbuena 3B

Rizzo 1B

Soriano LF

Castro SS

Clevenger C

Jackson CF

Barney 2B

Volstad P

– Carrie Muskat

8/22 Probable pitchers

After an off day Thursday, the Cubs open a 10-game homestand against the Rockies on Friday. Here are the pitching matchups:

Friday: RHP Jeff Samardzija (8-11, 4.17) vs. LHP Drew Pomeranz (1-7, 4.87)
Saturday: LHP Brooks Raley (1-2, 7.63) vs. RHP Alex White (2-6, 5.55)
Sunday: RHP Chris Volstad (0-9, 6.88) vs. RHP Jhoulys Chacin (1-3, 6.16)

– Carrie Muskat

8/21 Let the auditions begin

The Cubs rotation today only has two pitchers remaining from Opening Day in Jeff Samardzija and Chris Volstad. Ryan Dempster and Paul Maholm have been traded, and Matt Garza is on the 60-day DL with an elbow injury.

“It’s completely different from Opening Day,” manager Dale Sveum said Tuesday, stating the obvious.

On Tuesday, lefty Chris Rusin made his Major League debut. It’s part of the Cubs’ audition of young talent to determine who comes back in 2013.

“The last time I saw Rusin pitch was pretty impressive against the Angels in Spring Training,” Sveum said. “Hopefully, he can keep the ball down like he did that day and show us what he can do at the big league level.”

The Cubs haven’t decided whether Rusin will finish the season with them or go back to Triple-A Iowa.

“There are a few different scenarios, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Sveum said. “There’s a chance he could stick.”

If Spring Training started tomorrow, who besides Garza and Jeff Samardzija would make the rotation? That’s still to be determined. Rusin, Brooks Raley, and Justin Germano are among the candidates for spots.

“They’re young guys who are still learning how to get Major League hitters out with the stuff they have,” Sveum said. “That’s what the evaluation point of all this is. That’s what we have, that’s the depth we have and we’re going to evaluate it going forward. They have the ability to do it. Now it’s the understanding how to do it on a daily basis against Major League hitters.”

What type of team does Garza expect to see next spring in Mesa, Ariz.?

“It doesn’t matter — as long as I get to come back,” Garza said. “It’ll be younger. You can tell that right now. There will be lot less experience. If you’re going to do the full rebuild, you’re going to have to have a year or two like that. Right now we’re going through some aches and pains — growing pains — but we’ll be fine.”

Can Garza and Samardzija lead the staff?

“Somebody’s got to do it. Why not us?” he said. “We’ll have hungry guys and I feel we’re still going to have [Alfonso] Soriano, and he’ll be a big force out there for the young guys to look at. The bullpen, we’ll have [Carlos] Marmol, and he’s a guy who’s had great success and who’s shown he can come back. We’ll have some guys in spots to lead the way, so I think we’ll be all right.”

– Carrie Muskat

8/14 Extra bases

* On Tuesday, Chris Volstad will try to snap a 22-start winless streak, dating to July 17, 2011. He’s 0-13 with a 5.44 ERA in that span. The odds are in his favor. Volstad is 3-0 in five starts against the Astros.

* Alfonso Soriano is two RBIs shy of 1,000 in his career. He looks to become the sixth player in Major League history to total 1,000 RBIs, 400 doubles, 350 home runs and 250 stolen bases. The others include Barry Bonds, Andre Dawson, Willie Mays, Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield.

Soriano has 10 RBIs in his last nine games and has stolen a base in three of his last seven games. His 25 doubles are two shy of the 27 he collected all of last year. He has 21 home runs, giving him 11 consecutive 20 home run seasons.

* Rookie Anthony Rizzo posted his second four-hit game of the season on Monday, going 4-for-5 with a run and a RBI. Rizzo, who also had four hits July 6 against the Mets, is one of just four NL rookies with a pair of four-hit games this year. The others include the Padres’ Yonder Alonso, the Cardinals’ Matt Carpenter and the Nationals’ Steve Lombardozzi.

– Carrie Muskat 

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