SAN DIEGO – Cubs rookie Miguel Amaya knew the ball was leaving the park as soon as he hit it, and the feeling transported him back to Panama, hitting his first ever home run in a tournament at eight years old.
“I have no words to explain it,” Amaya said of his first major-league home run.
In Amaya’s first game back in the lineup, he made a mark. Again. The Cubs beat the Padres 7-1 on Sunday, thanks in part to Amaya’s three-hit day.
“Every hit was basically up the middle, left-center type approach and simple,” Ross said. “Really good swings.”
Over the first couple months of the season, Amaya has gone from a prospect working back from a couple serious injuries in Double-A to the first man up from Triple-A when the Cubs had the opportunity to add a right-handed bat this weekend.
The turning point was a stretch of six games, while catcher Yan Gomes was on the concussion injured list last month.
“He proved that he was able to handle the opportunities he was given and showed some really good at-bats, handled the pitching staff really well,” Ross said. “So just giving him an opportunity to come in, continue to get big-league seasoning, be around an environment with a lot of winners here, and just continue to have his career grow and help us win ball games.”
Amaya served as the designated hitter Sunday – reaching base in all four plate appearances, with a home run, two singles and a hit by pitch – but Ross is expected to find opportunities to use him behind the plate as well.
“I love guys who are just consistent,” said starter Marcus Stroman, who held the Padres to one unearned run in six innings Sunday for his 11th quality start of the season. “A lot of times, especially young guys, you see guys that are really wearing the highs and lows. And Amaya’s a guy who’s just so cool and collected each and every day.
“It’s like a veteran presence. Something that gets built over years, but some guys have it when they’re young, and he does.”
In his first at-bat, Amaya had to follow back-to-back home runs by Yan Gomes and Trey Mancini. But he didn’t swing out of his shoes. Instead, he watched an inside heater for strike one and then jumped on an outside changeup and pulled it to left field for a single. He later scored, as part of a four-run second inning, when Dansby Swanson hit a double to deep center field.
By the next inning, Padres right-handed reliever Drew Carlton had replaced lefty starter Ryan Weathers. Amaya dodged an inside sinker from Carlton. Then, he drove an up and in fastball 415 feet. Amaya’s two-run homer put the Cubs up 7-0.
As he rounded the bases, he pictured his parents jumping up and down at home, bursting with pride.
“It’s something that I’m going to remember the rest of my life,” he said.
Amya wasn’t done. He faced hard-throwing right-hander Domingo Tapia in the sixth inning, and yet again he hit the second pitch of the at-bat. Tapia also tested Amaya inside, and Amaya sent the sinker on a line into left field.
For his final plate appearance, in the ninth inning, Amaya fouled off three fastballs against Padres lefty Tom Cosgrove. Then Cosgrove hit him with a slider.
Amaya had a simple explanation for his immediate impact in his second stint with the big-league club.
“I was ready, I was in my plan,” he said. “I was ready for every single pitch. Just do damage. That’s all I did.”