Frank Schwindel hit a three-run home run and Justin Steele and Adbert Alzolay combined for a two-hit shutout as the Chicago Cubs completed a two-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a 3-0 victory on Wednesday in Minneapolis.
Schwindel homered for the third consecutive game, giving him eight on the year. Andrew Romine doubled and scored a run for Chicago, which finished with just four hits.
Steele (3-2) allowed just one hit over five innings to pick up his third major league victory and first as a starter. He walked three and also hit a batter while striking out three.
Alzolay garnered a rare four-inning save. He allowed just one hit and no walks while striking out five to seal the Cubs’ second shutout victory in the past four games. Alzolay needed just 40 pitches to record the final 12 outs and notch his first major league save.
Minnesota’s hits were two Brent Rooker singles. The Twins managed just one run and one extra-base hit in the series.
Joe Ryan (0-1) took the loss in his highly anticipated major league debut. He gave up three runs on three hits and a walk over five innings while striking out five.
Ryan, acquired in the Nelson Cruz trade from the Tampa Bay Rays on July 22 and a starter on the silver-medal winning U.S. Olympic team, had four 1-2-3 innings and retired the final seven batters he faced. He threw 89 pitches, 60 for strikes.
Ryan, pitching in front of approximately 50 friends and family who made the trip from the San Francisco Bay Area to watch the game, retired the first six batters he faced before running into trouble in the third inning.
Alfonso Rivas led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on Romine’s one-out double off the wall in right. After Rafael Ortega flied out to center, Schwindel hit a 384-foot homer into the left field bleachers to account for the game’s only scoring.
–Field Level Media