MINNEAPOLIS -- Kyle Schwarber didn’t travel back to Chicago with the Cubs following the 8-0 win over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday afternoon. Instead the 22-year-old boarded a plane en route to Des Moines, Iowa -- the place he’ll call home for the foreseeable future.
Schwarber finished his six-game MLB stint an impressive 8-for-22 with a homer and six RBIs. He was 1-for-4 with a pair of RBIs on Sunday.
“I’m glad I got to help the team win a couple games,” Schwarber said. “Now it’s time to go down and start working on all the stuff I need to work on and hopefully I’ll get back up here.
“I knew what my role was coming in,” Schwarber added. “I’m not disappointed at all. I knew the day was going to come.”
In the midst of an American League road trip that sparked the need for a designated hitter, the Cubs opted to call up Schwarber to fill that role for a six-game stretch. It was clear from the start that it wasn’t a permanent thing. He’d play six games for the big club and head to Triple-A.
“He knew regardless of how well he did he was going back,” manager Joe Maddon said. “As we can see, there are different things to work on yet. He definitely helped us. He contributed and helped us win a couple games. … He did an outstanding job for us.”
Schwarber raked in his first couple of games with Chicago, going 4-for-5 with a pair of RBIs in his first career start and following that up by going 2-for-4 with a homer the next day. He cooled off a little against the Twins as he continued to adjust to MLB pitchers.
Anthony Rizzo credited Schwarber following the six-game stretch.
“He did a great job,” Rizzo said. “He handled himself really well and got a nice taste. It’s nice that he gets to go down to Triple-A having had success up here. He knows he can do it. Now he has to go down and keep developing, keep building. … He just needs to go down and keep doing his thing."
Schwarber said he proved a little something to himself over the last week or so.
“I proved to myself that I’ve got a chance to do it,” Schwarber said. “I’ve got to work on some more things. … It was a little bit of a dabble into what could happen. It was a really good time.”