Trades made by the Chicago Cubs prior to MLB‘s trade deadline are already beginning to pay dividends.
After being acquired by Chicago late Wednesday evening, right-hander Andrew Kittredge made his first appearance in a Cubs uniform.
It came in the seventh inning of Chicago’s 1-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles, and it was a very clean 1-2-3 inning.
Kittredge got Adley Rutschman to fly out to left field before striking out Tyler O’Neill and Colton Cowser to end the inning.
His first appearance for the Cubs could not have gone any better and after the game, Kittredge had a chance to speak to “Cubs Live” host Cole Wright about pitching at Wrigley Field.
“Awesome. I could get used to this,” Kittredge said. “It’s definitely easy to get the adrenaline going with the fan base that supports like this. It’s an incredible place to play.”
Kittredge’s 1-2-3 inning got the attention of manager Craig Counsell, who postgame joked with reporters about the outing from one of his newly acquired relievers.
‘It was great. Did you like it?” Counsell joked with reporters when asked what he thought about the scoreless inning from his newly acquired right-hander.
As mentioned above, Kittredge is one of four new players the Cubs acquired at the trade deadline.
Utilityman Willi Castro, left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers and right-handed starting pitcher Michael Soroka were all traded to Chicago from their former teams, and all were expected to make their debuts in the coming days.
With debuts as good as the one Kittredge had on Friday, Counsell will have to be pleased with what team president Jed Hoyer and general manager Carter Hawkins did for the team in hopes of reaching the postseason for the first time since 2020.