Addison Russell homers twice, makes history in Cubs’ blowout win
The Chicago Cubs showed no mercy on the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, pummeling them 14-5 at sun-soaked Wrigley Field.
Based on the final score, one might assume the wind was blowing out. That actually wasn’t the case. In fact, at one point the wind appeared to be blowing in pretty strong from right field, but it couldn’t stop the Cubs’ sizzling offense from cracking four home runs.
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Among the roundtrippers was a grand slam from Anthony Rizzo, which blew the game wide open in Chicago’s eight-run fifth inning. Javier Baez also connected on a two-run shot to cap that rally. Then there was Addison Russell, who came through with his first career multi-homer game while batting ninth in manager Joe Maddon’s batting order.
Russell’s performance was obviously significant on a personal level. But it was also historic based on his positioning in the order.
By homering twice, Russell became the first National League position player to start an NL-only game hitting ninth and hit more than one home run. The two keys being it was a National League game and that he’s a position player. Obviously pitchers don’t bat in the AL. In the NL, the No. 9 spot is typically reserved for pitchers and only pitchers. There have been 34 instances where a pitcher homered multiple times while batting ninth, but it had never been done by a position player until Russell.
Given the recent increase in position players batting ninth, such a performance was inevitable. But it’s still notable. Tony La Russa got the trend started during his time with the St. Louis Cardinals. Now that he’s managing in the NL, Joe Maddon has embraced the idea completely, using the 21-year-old Russell extensively in the nine spot. That’s in spite of having Jon Lester on the roster.
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Lester came into Friday’s start being 1-for-83 for his big league career. Amazingly, he reached base twice in the game — via a walk and an error — and scored the first two runs of his career. One of those came on Russell’s second home run.
As for Russell, he also did something notable in Cubs history.
Needless to say, it was a good afternoon for Chicago’s shortstop of the future. Now that he’s playing his natural position on a daily basis, he looks like an entirely different player. He looks comfortable, and he’s playing like a beast.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
