Manager Jim Riggleman gave second baseman Rey Sanchez a rest and sent a message at the same time Saturday night.
Sanchez leads the team with 22 multihit games, is batting .310 the last month and had appeared in all 53 games before being replaced by Jose Hernandez. He has been sparkling on defense and done everything the Cubs have asked of him–except moving the runners, lately.
Friday night’s game was a perfect example. Brian McRae opened the game by reaching second on a two-base error. Instead of hitting to the right side to advance McRae, Sanchez grounded out to third.
McRae was forced to hold second and was still there two outs later when the inning ended. If Sanchez had moved him to third, McRae might have scored on a fly ball to center by Mark Grace. The Cubs lost 3-2 in 12 innings.
“Ideally, I want Rey to hit in that spot,” said Riggleman. “I told him, `I want you back there and I hope you want to get back there.”‘
Besides the downtime to think, Riggleman also wanted to give Sanchez a break physically. Sanchez never has played more than 105 games in a big-league season.
New two: Struggling catcher Rick Wilkins replaced Sanchez in the No. 2 spot and probably will bat there for three games. Riggleman thought Wilkins would be better at hitting the ball to the right side and the change might help him snap a two-year slump. Wilkins batted .227 last year and came into Saturday’s game hitting .189.
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On the seventh day: Next in line for a rest is shortstop Shawon Dunston, who is hurting from three straight games on the hard Astroturf. Dunston has played in 48 of the 54 games. He was suspended for two of the six he missed.