Baseball - think you've seen it all....

[Mike Honcho 4,009]

 

Cain's good baserunning

 

Cain and Yelich pulled off the great escape after Yelich led off the bottom of the third with a walk off Tyler Chatwood and moved up on Chatwood’s errant pickoff attempt. Cain followed with a bouncer up the middle that second baseman Javier Báez fielded, catching Yelich too far off the base.

 

Yelich got into a rundown long enough for Cain to advance to second but his teammate had other ideas. Realizing first baseman Anthony Rizzo had gone to cover home with catcher Willson Contreras moving to third for the rundown, Cain stopped just short of second, directed Yelich back to that base, then retreated safely to first as the Cubs’ infielders watched dumbfounded.

 

The play paid immediate dividends when Shaw followed with his second two-run double of the game, accouting for all of the scoring.

 

Amazingly, Cain said Kansas City had worked on just that play when he was with the Royals.

 

“I peeked back,” Cain said. “I want to credit that play to (Royals coach) Rusty Kuntz. We used to practice that play when I was in KC. It never actually happened. For it to happen tonight was nice.

 

“As long as the guy in front of you is hustling, I peeked back and saw Rizzo wasn’t covering first. I told ‘Yelly’ to get on the bag. I credit him for hustling all the way. If he slows down, he’s out. That’s normally what guys do. Once I’m on the bag, they usually shut it down. He kept hustling.

 

“Everybody was huddled around second base. The main goal is to get them thinking I’m going to stand there and they get the easy out. I was able to get back to first easy.”

 

 

And Chase pitched a great game to boot.