Edward Cabrera’s defining moment in his Chicago Cubs debut came two batters into Monday’s series opener.
He needed just two pitches to put Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout in an 0-2 hole that the future Hall of Famer battled out of to force a full count. Cabrera, on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, trusted catcher Carson Kelly’s call to go to his curveball — and he executed perfectly.
Cabrera got Trout to swing over the curveball down and out of the zone to strike him out. The tone-setting sequence put Cabrera into cruise control, getting a mix of whiffs and soft contact to limit the Angels to just one hit in six shutout innings en route to a 7-2 Cubs victory.
“He tells me he’s comfortable with everything in any count, so there you go,” a grinning Kelly said of Trout’s strikeout.
The Cubs’ lineup spotted Cabrera an early lead with a pair of three-run frames in the first and third innings. Six Cubs drove in a run in the win, led by a wind-aided two-run single from Kelly, an Ian Happ home run for a third consecutive game and Moisés Ballesteros’ two-out, two-run single in the third.
An efficient Cabrera issued only one walk and quickly erased the lone hit — a Nolan Schanuel one-out single in the fourth — with a double play from the next hitter. Three of his five strikeouts came against the final five Angels he faced.
These types of outings are why the Cubs traded for the 27-year-old.
“He got better as the game went on. I thought after the second inning he was just excellent,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He faced 19 hitters, one walk so no free base runners, that’s gonna play for sure. And on a night like tonight, that’s really important as well and that’s probably the most important thing for him is controlling counts really well. … It was not one walk because of an aggressive team. It was one walk because a lot of quality pitches.”
Chicago Cubs’ Edward Cabrera, wearing custom cleats, delivers a pitch against the Los Angeles Angels at Wrigley Field on March 30, 2026, in Chicago. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Cabrera, rocking custom blue cleats featuring a retro Cubbie bear logo, displayed the type of poise and attacking mentality the Cubs expected from the right-hander. His five-pitch mix kept the Angels guessing. He finished with 15 whiffs and nine called strikes.
“He’s like, ‘I think I’m the best every time I take the mound,’ and I truly believe that,” Kelly said. “I think he’s gonna go out there and bring that energy every single time.”
Cabrera became the first Cubs pitcher to throw at least six shutout innings with one hit or fewer and one walk or fewer in his team debut since Don Cardwell on May 15, 1960.
Monday’s start represented the largest home crowd (36,702) that Cabrera has ever pitched in front of in his career. In his 44 career home games with the Marlins, Miami averaged 11,118 fans. That includes the team drawing about 34,000 last year twice in games he started.
“The emotions are very different, that is super real,” Cabrera said through an interpreter. “It is a big difference on the fan bases than the number of fans that we had in Miami. But I try not to focus too much on that.”
Forty minutes before first pitch, Cubs fans in the bleachers cheered on Cabrera while he made the trek to the bullpen. As he approached the bullpen door, Cabrera fist-pumped in their direction.
“I felt really proud to be able to go out there and have that moment,” Cabrera said. “So I want to thank the fans for the love and support that they showed me.”