Erin Hooley/AP Photos
The ball rocketed off Padres star Manny Machado’s bat up the line. At over 100 mph, it didn’t give Cubs third baseman Christopher Morel time to create a good hop. Instead, he handled an in-between hop to his backhand side and stepped on third base for the final out of the seventh inning Wednesday.
“Big play, for sure,” manager Craig Counsell said after the Cubs’ 3-0 loss to the Padres on Wednesday. “Christopher, he’s played really solid defense. For the last, probably, month now, we’ve gotten really good defense from him. He’s settled in there, and his work has been excellent.