The Cubs lost by a touchdown yesterday in a game that might have made for some morbidly humorous viewing if it had been broadcast by anyone. There wasn’t even any audio coverage, though it’s not like most folks would have recognized many names after a few innings. Such is the way of spring training games. At least you can listen to the Angels’ radio call of this one through MLB Audio.
Michael Busch will lead off at first, followed by Jefferson Rojas at short, Carson Kellly behind the plate, and Dylan Carlson in left. Chas McCormick is in right, James Triantos is the DH, and Pedro Ramirez is at third. Justin Dean handles center with Scott Kingery at second. Pretty typical for an early road game.
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Matthew Boyd gets his second start of the spring, and we should see him try to push to three innings as he readies to pitch for Team USA. The lefty looked okay the last time out, punching out four of the five batters he retired. He did allow five hits, though four of them were singles. His only goal for today is to keep stretching out, so we’ll get a better idea of where he’s at once the WBC starts.
Going for the Angels is 27-year-old righty José Soriano, who lasted only two-thirds of an inning in his first action of the spring. He managed to strike out two Dodgers, but he also walked two and gave up three hits before getting the hook. Soriano has been serviceable over parts of three seasons in Anaheim, and he gave them 169 innings over 31 starts last year.
A sinker monster with a good splitter and solid knuckle curve, Soriano succeeds by keeping the ball on the ground. No pitcher in baseball was better at generating grounders last season (66%), but almost all of them were better at giving up hard contact. Soriano was in the 4th percentile for both hard-hit rate (48.2%) and average exit velo (91.4%), plus he walked batters at nearly an 11% clip. If he starts giving up a little more contact in the air, it could get ugly.
First pitch from Tempe Diablo Stadium is at 2:10pm CT.
2:10 in Tempe. pic.twitter.com/ioYJiITY9d
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) February 26, 2026
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