Levine: Kris Bryant Takes Clayton Kershaw Deep, Homers Twice
By Bruce Levine--
CHICAGO (CBS) -- While he was still in high school, 23-year-old Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant had Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw on his fantasy baseball league team.
On Monday evening, it was no fantasy but a harsh reality for Kershaw, as Bryant hit a slow curveball into the right-field bleachers in the third inning for a two-run home run, his ninth of the season, in Chicago's 4-2 win against Los Angeles at Wrigley Field.
"He was just so deceptive with his pitches in my first at-bat," Bryant said. "I saw a lot of his pitches, which is really good for me."
If you question the down-home demeanor of Bryant, then you may be shocked at the fact that the rookie actually set up the best pitcher in baseball. He had faced Kershaw last season when the pitcher was on a rehab stint in the minor leagues.
"For me, a lot of this is surreal, since I am facing guys who I had on my fantasy team," Bryant said. "With two strikes, you want to battle up there. With a strikeout pitcher, you really want to get a pitch you think you can get a piece of. I think they were trying to get me to chase. I was lucky to get a pitch up in the zone."
The surprising aspect to the sequence was that Bryant saw that same slow curveball by Kershaw in the minor league game last year. After almost getting rung up on a fastball on the outside corner on the previous pitch, Bryant was waiting for a certain serving in a certain zone.
"I just got a (curveball) up in the zone," Bryant said. "I felt I was due for a big game, and I got it. Sometimes you have to think that way. It is crazy. Sometimes you get down on yourself, and those are the types of runs that make you the player you are going to be."
Cubs manager Joe Maddon was complimentary of the cool, collected way Bryant has dealt with success and failure during his brief major league career. Maddon predicted on the team's previous homestand that Bryant was ready to break out with a home run barrage.
Bryant added a solo homer off Dodgers reliever Adam Liberatore in the eighth inning for his 10th homer of the season. In 60 games, he's hitting .282 with a .384 on-base percentage and 42 RBIs.
"He had been struggling a bit lately," Maddon said.
Bryant's first career two-homer game was only the second and third long balls he has hit in the last 23 games. Bryant was in a 3-of-23 slump before hitting well against the Dodgers on Monday.
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
