Chicago Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo and Junior Lake displayed power last night
By David Miniel
Now I know I can’t get ahead of myself and I know that my Cubbies still lost but man oh man, the future sure does look bright for this club.
It was a tough loss, but 2 cornerstones, who will be veterans on this team before the rest of the top prospects get called up, had a home run derby of their own against the Dodgers.
Anthony Rizzo and Junior Lake, what can I say, it was like they had some sort of bet to see who could hit the ball the furthest, as both Chicago Cubs young bucks each had a pair home runs.
Lake’s first came off a slider that stayed in the middle of the plate, allowing him to put everything he had into it, hooking it just inside the left field foul pole, finding Waveland Avenue. He rounded 3rd, was congratulated by 3rd base coach David Bell, finally meeting up with the next guy up: Anthony Rizzo.
Lake was just getting into the dug out, getting high fives from teammates when Rizzo took the 1st pitch he saw, pretty much the same one that Lake took deep, but this time it was sent to right field.
The Cubs were leading the Dodgers 2-0 before the boys in blue from California tied it in the 3rd. But that lead didn’t last long as Junior Lake hit his second and final home run of the game (fourth on the year) in the bottom half of that inning, launching it to deep left center.
Anthony Rizzo later added his second home run of the game and seventeenth on the year in the bottom of the eighth inning, also sending his solo blast to left center.
It was all short-lived as Dodgers rookie phenom Yasiel Puig (11th) hit a home run to left center, as the Dodgers pulled ahead 6-4 which would be the final score.
The only thing Lake needs to work on is striking out. He needs to limit that, I know he has the ability to send pitches onto Waveland, but he needs to work on plate discipline. If all works out, Rizzo and Lake could be both hitting 20 or more home runs per year for the Chicago Cubs in the future.
Lake is hitting .323 with four home runs, seven RBI’s in 15 games this season, while Rizzo is batting .245 with 17 home runs and 62 RBI’s in 107 games.