Cubs going with an opener to help Ben Brown with first-inning trouble

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Cubs going with an opener to help Ben Brown with first-inning trouble

2025-05-31 05:44 Last Updated At：05:51

CHICAGO (AP) — Ben Brown has struggled in the first inning so far this season. While he works on a solution, the Chicago Cubs are going to try a different approach.

Manager Craig Counsell is going to use Drew Pomeranz as an opener on Saturday for Brown's regular turn in the rotation. The NL Central leaders announced their plans after a 6-2 loss to the Reds in the series opener on Friday.

Brown was hit hard in his last two starts, allowing 14 runs and 14 hits over nine innings in no-decisions at Miami and Cincinnati. The 6-foot-6 right-hander has a 9.90 ERA in the first inning this year.

“I'm getting so excited, so pumped up to pitch I'm losing kind of sight of what I do best,” Brown said. "And it's like a mental (thing) not being able to throw strikes. There's a real dynamic to the first inning of baseball games that is different than other innings.

“So I have been working a lot with coaches and trainers, just trying to navigate throughout the process to make it a little bit easier for me.”

Brown, 25, relies heavily on his four-seam fastball and a knuckle curveball. He has been working on adding a changeup to his repertoire, and he said he has been encouraged by the results so far.

“I think the changeup will be something I continue to use more and more,” he said. “I mean in my bullpens, it's so comfortable. ... I think that's going to be real important.”

Brown was acquired in an August 2022 trade with Philadelphia. He made his major league debut last year, going 1-3 with a 3.58 ERA in eight starts and seven relief appearances with Chicago.

In his most recent start Sunday against the Reds, Brown walked his first two batters on nine pitches. He ended up surrendering four runs in the first after he was staked to a 2-0 lead.

“I think there's things Ben can do better,” Counsell said before Friday's game. “I think when you use an opener for a starter you're trying to get a better solution in the first inning and then you're trying to probably get a better solution kind of as you get to the back end of the appearance, with hitters 19 to 25 or something like that.”

Counsell had another left-hander in his bullpen for the matchup with Cincinnati after Chicago signed Génesis Cabrera on Thursday's off day. Right-hander Brooks Kriske was designated for assignment.

Cabrera, 28, had no record and a 3.52 ERA in six appearances for the New York Mets before he was designated for assignment last weekend. He pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings against Cincinnati, striking out three.

“I think we're continuing to try to just add depth and incrementally upgrade,” Counsell said. “I think we're going through a stretch of the season right now where I think left-handers are going to help.”

Cabrera, who is from the Dominican Republic, is 17-14 with a 3.86 ERA in seven major league seasons, also playing for St. Louis and Toronto.

“I like to compete,” Cabrera said through a translator. “I can actually go in in any situation. ... High-leverage or any inning, anything like that. I'm a competitor.”

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Fernando Mendoza wins the Heisman Trophy as college football's top player

NEW YORK (AP) — Fernando Mendoza, the enthusiastic quarterback of No. 1 Indiana, won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, becoming the first Hoosier to win college football’s most prestigious award since its inception in 1935.

Mendoza claimed 2,362 points, including 643 first-place votes. He beat Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (1,435 points), Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love (719 points) and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (432 points).

Mendoza’s Heisman win was emphatic. He finished first in all six Heisman regions, the first to do so since Caleb Williams in 2022. He was named on 95.16% of all ballots, tying him with Marcus Mariota in 2014 for the second highest in the award’s history and he received 84.6% of total possible points, which is the seventh highest in Heisman history.

“I haven’t seen the numbers yet,” said Mendoza, "but it’s such an honor to be mentioned with these guys (Pavia, Love and Sayin). It's really a credit to our team. It’s a team award.”

Mendoza guided the Hoosiers to their first No. 1 ranking and the top seed in the 12-team College Football bracket, throwing for 2,980 yards and a national-best 33 touchdown passes while also running for six scores. Indiana, the last unbeaten team in major college football, will play a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.

Mendoza, the Hoosiers’ first-year starter after transferring from California, is the triggerman for an offense that surpassed program records for touchdowns and points set during last season’s surprise run to the CFP.

A redshirt junior, the once lightly recruited Miami native is the second Heisman finalist in school history, joining 1989 runner-up Anthony Thompson. Mendoza is the seventh Indiana player to earn a top-10 finish in Heisman balloting and it marks another first in program history — having back-to-back players in the top 10. Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke was ninth last year.

With his teammates chanting “HeismanDoza” as he addressed the media, he said there felt like a realistic chance of winning the Heisman when the Hoosiers routed then No. 19 Illinois 63-10 on Sept. 20.

“At that point my boys (teammates) said we might make it to New York (for the award ceremony)," he said. "It was lighthearted at the time, but that’s when it started. "

Quarterbacks have won the Heisman four of the last five years, with two-way player Travis Hunter of Colorado ending the run last season.

Mendoza is the 43rd quarterback to win the Heisman and the second winner of Latin American descent to claim the trophy. Stanford’s Jim Plunkett was the first in 1970.

“Although I grew up in America, my four grandparents are all from Cuba," he said. “I had the opportunity to go there and that was important to me. I credit the love to my grandparents and the Hispanic community.”

The Heisman Trophy presentation came after a number of accolades were already awarded. Mendoza was named The Associated Press player of the year earlier this week and picked up the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards Friday night while Love won the Doak Walker Award.

Mendoza and Pavia clearly exemplify the changing landscape of using the transfer portal in college football. Mendoza is the seventh transfer to win the award in the last nine years. Vanderbilt is Pavia’s third school.

Pavia finished second with 189 first-place votes. He threw for a school-record 3,192 yards and 27 touchdowns for the Commodores, who were pushing for a CFP berth all the way to the bracket announcement. He is the first Heisman finalist in Vanderbilt history.

Generously listed as 6 feet tall, Pavia led Vanderbilt to its first 10-win season along with six wins against Southeastern Conference foes. That includes four wins over ranked programs as Vandy reached No. 9, its highest ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 since 1937.

Pavia went from being unrecruited out of high school to junior college, New Mexico State and finally Vanderbilt in 2024 through the transfer portal.

Vandy next plays in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Iowa on Dec. 31.

The last running back to win the Heisman was Alabama’s Derrick Henry in 2015. Love put himself in the mix with an outstanding season for Notre Dame. He finished with 46 first-place votes.

The junior from St. Louis was fourth in the Bowl Subdivision in yards rushing (1,372), fifth in per-game average (114.3) and third with 18 rushing touchdowns for the Fighting Irish, who missed out on a CFP bid and opted not to play in a bowl game.

He was the first player in Notre Dame’s storied history to produce multiple TD runs of 90 or more yards, a 98-yarder against Indiana in the first round of last year’s playoffs and a 94-yarder against Boston College earlier this season.

Sayin led the Buckeyes to a No. 1 ranking for most of the season, throwing for 3,329 yards while tying for second in the country with 31 TD passes ahead of their CFP quarterfinal at the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31.

The sophomore from Carlsbad, California, arrived at Ohio State after initially committing to Alabama and entering the transfer portal following a coaching change. He played four games last season before winning the starting job. He led the Buckeyes to a 14-7 win in the opener against preseason No. 1 Texas and kept the team atop the AP Top 25 for 13 straight weeks, tying its second-longest run.

Sayin follows a strong lineage of Ohio State quarterbacks since coach Ryan Day arrived in 2017. Dwayne Haskins (2018), Justin Fields (2019), C.J. Stroud (2021), and Kyle McCord (2023) averaged 3,927 passing yards, 40 TDs, and six interceptions, along with a 68.9% completion rate during their first seasons.

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