Cubs 6, Rangers 5: The sub Cubs bring a comeback victory

The Cubs fell behind early, then came back and won their fourth straight.

MESA, Arizona — The Cubs defeated the Rangers 6-5 on another sun-kissed Arizona afternoon, but the win wasn’t the point.

More to the point, there were some not-great performances by guys who are going to be on the Opening Day roster, and so we’ll look at those, in addition to the minor leaguers who brought the team’s fourth spring victory without a defeat.

The Rangers scored a run off Colin Rea in the first inning on a couple of dinky singles and an error by Seiya Suzuki — gotta say, much as I like Seiya as a hitter, he’s just not very good in the field. He might not like being the Cubs’ (mostly) full-time DH, but that seems his best position for now.

Rea reached a pitch count and was removed with two out in the second inning, and the Rangers then scored another run in the third off Ryan Pressly, making his Cubs debut. It’s Spring Training and guys sometimes work on things and I won’t judge Pressly on one outing, but he didn’t look real comfortable on the mound at Sloan Park. Hopefully the next outing is better. Here’s Pressly’s first Cubs strikeout [VIDEO].

In the fourth, Ian Happ made this nice sliding grab in left field [VIDEO].

Some say Happ wins Gold Gloves due to a lack of competition. I say he wins them because... well, he’s a really good outfielder.

The Cubs were stymied by the first three Rangers pitchers, including lefty Cody Bradford, who looks like he’s going to be a good one.

After a homer off Keegan Thompson in the fifth and two runs off Daniel Palencia in the sixth, the Rangers led 5-0.

Some of the Cubs regulars were still in the game when they put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth. Dansby Swanson and Pete Crow-Armstrong singled and Vidal Bruján walked to load the bases.

That brought up Jonathon Long [VIDEO].

Two runs scored on the hit and after a bad throw from right field, Bruján scored to make it 5-3.

No question, Long can hit. If he can learn to play a good defensive first base, the Cubs will likely find a spot for him.

The Cubs tied the game in the seventh on five straight hits, all by minor leaguers or non-roster guys. It might have been more if Haydn McGeary hadn’t slipped and fallen on his way to the plate; he was caught in a rundown to end the inning.

So it was 5-5 heading to the bottom of the eighth. Two walks led off the inning, and then Reese McGuire hit what looked like an easy double-play ball. But the Rangers minor-league second baseman threw the ball away, and a run scored to give the Cubs the lead, which they held through a 1-2-3 ninth.

Winning is always good! Better performances by some of the guys the Cubs are counting on during the regular season would be better. One notable performance: Pete Crow-Armstrong was 3-for-3 (two singles and a double) and is 4-for-6 so far this spring.

Monday, the Cubs travel to the west Valley to play the Padres at Peoria Stadium. Matthew Boyd will start for the Cubs and Randy Vásquez will start for San Diego. Game time is 2:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Padres TV. No radio broadcast for Monday’s game.