Cubs Pitchers Spin Shutout at Indian School Park

Rafael Mejia belted a solo HR and drove-in another run with a 6-3 GO and RHSP Jesus Camargo fired four innings of no run/no hit ball and combined with three relievers to hurl a four-hit shutout, as the Cubs blanked the Giants "black" squad 4-0 in Cactus League Extended Spring Training game action Wednesday morning on Field #2 (AKA "Jim Davenport Field") at Indian School Park in Scottsdale, AZ. 

With his two RBI day, Rafael Mejia now has ten RBI in the 16 Cactus League EXST games in which he has played (he leads the EXST Cubs in that category, with no other player on the team having more than six). Mejia is also now tied for the team lead in HR with Kevin Cornelius, Chris Dominguez, and Christopher Morel (all four have two). Now 19, Mejia won the Home Run Derby (by a large margin) as an 18-year old at Cubs AZ Instructs post-2016, and the Cubs have been hoping that moving him from 3B to 1B (he made the move at Instructs) will help him develop as a hitter. Mejia was a defensive disaster for the AZL Cubs at 3B last season (mostly throwing errors), and it may have affected his hitting (he hit only 203/226/313 in 36 AZL games in 2016, with 34 K and only three BB in 133 PA).   

With four more innings without allowing a hit, Jesus Camargo has now thrown ten consecutive innings of no-hit ball over his last three outings, including all four innings in each of his last two starts (today and last Thursday) and the last two innings of his three-inning stint on 5/6. Camargo was signed by the Cubs out of Mexico in December 2014 and attended Extended Spring Training in 2015 (he pitched for the AZL Cubs that summer and had a very nice debut season) and then again last year in preparation for an expected promotion to Eugene, but he threw only one inning at 2016 EXST before being shut-down for the balance of the season with a sore elbow. Although his upper 80's fastball is nothing special, Camargo has one of the best change-ups in the Cubs system (when he made his pro debut at Extended Spring Training in 2015, Cubs pitching coaches had to talk Camargo out of throwing his change-up on every pitch). As things stand right now, Camargo would appear to be in strong contention to be the Opening Day starting pitcher for Eugene next month, with the Emeralds projected starting rotation likely to be - AS THINGS STAND RIGHT NOW - Camargo, Jose Albertos, Javier Assad, Enrique de los Rios, and Tyler Peyton. (While Albertos is clearly the best prospect of the five, Camargo is pitching better than any of them right now).  

Here is the abridged box score from the game (Cubs players only): 

CUBS LINEUP:
1. Jose Gutierrez, CF: 0-3 (K, K, F-9)
2. Marcus Mastrobuoni, C-DH: 1-2 (F-7, BB, 1B, R)
3. Aramis Ademan, SS: 1-3 (6-3, 1B, 4-U FC, R) 
4. Gustavo Polanco, DH-C: 1-3 (P-4, 1B+E8, K, R, RBI)
5. Rafael Mejia, 1B: 1-3 (HR, 6-3, 6-3, R, 2 RBI)
6. Kwangmin Kwon, RF: 1-3 (K, 2B, K)
7. Fidel Mejia, 3B: 0-3 (F-8, 6-3, L-6)
8. Ruben Reyes, LF: 0-2 (K, 6-3, BB, CS)
9. Jhonny Bethencourt, 2B: 0-3 (6-3, 5-3, 6-4 FC)
10. Tolly Filotei, DH #2: 1-3 (1B, F-9, F-8, PO)

CUBS PITCHERS: 
1. Jesus Camargo: 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HBP, 0/7 GO/AO, 56 pitches (37 strikes)
2. Faustino Carrera: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 1/5 GO/AO, 18 pitches (11 strikes)
3. Yunior Perez: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 2/2 GO/AO, 28 pitches (18 strikes) 
4. Andry Rondon: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 0/3 GO/AO, 14 pitches (9 strikes) 

CUBS ERRORS: NONE 

CUBS OTHER BASERUNNING OUTS (does not include CS or PO):   
Kwangmin Kwon - thrown out 9-4-5 attempting to stretch double into triple

ATTENDANCE: 14 
WEATHER: Sunny & breezy with temperatures in the 80's 

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