With Ian Happ milestone in books, Cubs aim for series sweep against Padres

In an era where players seem to change teams as frequently as they change clothes, Chicago Cubs left fielder Ian Happ is in one way a throwback.

On Saturday, when Chicago stopped the San Diego Padres 7-1 to earn a series win, Happ played his 1,000th MLB game. All of them have been with the Cubs.

Happ likely will go to work on his next 1,000 games Sunday when Chicago tries to secure a series sweep at Wrigley Field. He made his major league debut May 13, 2017, against the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I think the one thing that means a lot about it is doing it all here,” Happ said of the milestone. “I think that’s the thing that means a ton. There’s a lot of work that goes into being available that much. That part of it is kind of what I think about.”

Happ marked his 1,000th career game with a leadoff double, a walk and the kind of spectacular defensive play that Cubs fans have come to expect. In the seventh inning, Happ made a full-length dive to the left-field line to take away an extra-base hit from Gavin Sheets and turn it into an out.

Manager Craig Counsell has come to appreciate Happ’s steadiness.

“The big significance for me is 1,000 games with the same team,” Counsell said. “That, in this era of baseball, is not happening. It’s just not happening. That speaks a lot about kind of how Ian’s gone about it.”

Happ and Chicago have gone about business well in this series, allowing only two runs in two games.

Right-hander Ben Brown (1-1, 5.87 ERA) will attempt to earn his second straight win on Sunday. Brown got the decision in an 18-3 victory Monday night over the Athletics in West Sacramento, Calif., lasting five innings and allowing three runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

In his only career outing against San Diego, which came last season, Brown tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings in a no-decision, allowing three hits and striking out five.

San Diego looks to win one game of the series behind lefthander Kyle Hart (1-0, 3.60), who bagged his first MLB win Monday night in a 7-2 decision over Cleveland. Hart allowed a pair of solo homers in five innings but nothing else, walking one and striking out four.

After ripping off seven straight wins to start the season, the Padres have found out how the other half lives this weekend. The offense has struggled against two left-handed starters, and their pitchers haven’t been able to throw strikes, issuing seven walks Friday and eight more on Saturday.

“They took a lot of good at-bats and their top of the lineup just didn’t chase out of the zone,” said San Diego manager Mike Shildt of the Cubs offense.

“Sometimes, you have to give credit to the other group. They didn’t expand the zone.

“And we hit some balls right at people and they made some plays. It’s just a combination of things.”

–Field Level Media