Ian Happ had himself a day at the plate on Sunday afternoon. He spent the matinee terrorizing Cincinnati Reds pitchers. Considering he's just a rookie, the Chicago Cubs star could be doing the same thing for years to come. The team would rather focus on what he's doing in the here and now, though. On Sunday, that meant delivering a much-needed victory for the defending World Series champions.
Happ crushes the ball...twice
Happ had no problem seeing the ball on Sunday afternoon. He first stepped up to the plate in the top of the second inning with a runner on first base.
On a 2-2 pitch, he sent one into the deepest part of the park, straight over the center field wall, to give the Cubs the first two runs of the game.
Ian Happ demolishes a two-run home run to center field and puts the Cubs on the board with a 2-0 lead in the top of the 2nd inning!!! pic.twitter.com/aUCoMGyc99
— TheRenderMLB (@TheRenderMLB) July 2, 2017
In the fourth inning, he did it again. This time, there were no men on base, so the excitement was a little bit tempered. The result was the same, though, as Happ drove the ball to right field this time around, putting the Cubs up 3-0.
Happ kept rolling all afternoon long. An RBI single to left field in the sixth inning gave the Cubs a 4-0 lead. In the process, he became the first Cubs player to have a multi-homer game with a stolen base within their first 45 contests since a little known player named Ryne Sandberg did the same in April 1982.
He also became one of the few members of the team with multiple multi-homer games within their first 45 contests, joining the likes of Mandy Brooks, Jorge Soler, and Kyle Schwarber. He is no longer one of the team's top prospects - he's a legitimate star.
Happ does it all in a win
Happ was solely responsible for a Cubs win on Sunday.
The Cincinnati Reds only scored two runs, so the rookie drove in double the amount of runs as the opponent in the 6-2 victory. The win helped the Cubs avoid a sweep and improved their record to an even 41-41. The Reds dropped to 35-46.
Happ made his major league debut on May 13. His first career hit was a home run off of one of the NL Central's best pitchers, St.
Louis Cardinals ace Carlos Martinez. Since then, he hasn't stopped mashing, hitting home runs that fly out of the park in just seconds. He's currently batting .264 with 12 home runs and 27 RBIs in his brief career. His numbers are being obscured by other prized rookies - New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Cody Bellinger immediately come to mind - but Happ is having a remarkable rookie season, which he'll need to continue for the Cubs to repeat.
