If it weren’t for the woeful Rockies and the surging Brewers, right-hander Michael Soroka would have gone from worst to first.
Instead, he went from the Nationals (second-worst in the National League) to the Cubs (second-best in the NL) at the trade deadline.
Still a heck of an upgrade.
‘‘It’s new life,’’ Soroka said Sunday. ‘‘It’s kind of like a new start to the season for me. You get some long days in July, and you’re looking forward to this trade deadline and seeing what happens.
‘‘Obviously, joining a team like this, it’s that new breath of adrenaline and life. I’m looking to take that through the end of the season and hopefully help this team compete for a World Series.’’
With a 4.87 ERA in 16 starts this season, Soroka isn’t the splashy pitching addition Cubs fans were hoping for. But he could serve an important purpose for a team looking to play deep into October by soaking up innings to benefit the rest of the pitching staff, especially considering the growing innings counts of rookie right-hander Cade Horton and All-Star left-hander Matthew Boyd.
Though an injured Soroka didn’t pitch for the Braves team that won the World Series in 2021, he got to watch and found out what it took to get there. Now he’s looking to play a more important role on a team with championship aspirations.
‘‘I was on the sidelines for a 2021 World Series with the Braves,’’ said Soroka, who will make his Cubs debut Monday against the Reds. ‘‘Although it was exciting to be along with the team, a lot of the guys I played with those previous couple of years, it’s still something that’s burned in me to this day that I didn’t really do a ton that year; I didn’t throw a pitch. I’m looking to rewrite that and have new memories this time of being a big part of something that’s pretty special.’’
Big-money bunter
The Cubs didn’t trade for right fielder Kyle Tucker so he could lay down sacrifice bunts.
But manager Craig Counsell said Tucker had that plan in mind from the get-go Sunday — and it worked. Tucker’s bunt moved Michael Busch to third base ahead of Seiya Suzuki’s RBI single in the first inning of the Cubs’ 5-3 victory against the Orioles.
Tucker, however, should be sending balls into the bleachers, not the infield grass, right? That’s what’s expected to earn him a huge payday when he hits free agency this winter.
But Tucker hasn’t exactly been hitting the cover off the ball since the All-Star break, and a bunt might have been his way of trying to do something — anything — to help the Cubs score runs.
Tucker ended up having a productive day, collecting two singles, but the bigger numbers only improved so much. He is hitting .244 since the All-Star break after getting three hits this weekend. His on-base percentage during that stretch is .417, though, which makes talking about his offense as a negative sound strange, as Counsell found out.
‘‘The amazing thing about Kyle is I can use the word ‘struggling,’ and he has an on-base percentage above .400,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘That’s a little bit of a silly statement, a contradiction on my part a little bit.’’
The Cubs scored only nine runs in three games against the Orioles but came away with a series victory. They are averaging 4.5 runs since the break.
