Happ rides Bryzzo, Báez in The Show walk-off

Ian Happ spent his second day of the MLB The Show Players League encouraging and complimenting his teammates, even after they committed an error or struck out. With so much love, his virtual teammates decided to come through in a big way.

The Cubs utility man took a deflating 18-1 loss against Blake Snell (Rays) on Monday, but Happ has proven that he’s just way too optimistic to get down on himself after a loss. Since the loss to Snell, Happ has hung a Cubs “W” flag and won six of his last seven games, including a 3-1 effort on Wednesday night, making him very … Happ-y.

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Happ started off the night with a 3-1 win over Brett Phillips (Royals). Later in the night he beat David Dahl (Rockies) by the same score. But between those two games, Happ took on Lucas Giolito (White Sox) in a battle of Chicago, and that’s when his teammates came to the rescue.

Virtual Kris Bryant broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third inning, hitting a solo home run. Happ credited Bryant’s power to his new “dad strength” with the All-Star becoming a dad last week. Happ then hit a double with Anthony Rizzo, followed by an RBI single by Javier Báez. All of this happened against virtual Steve Cishek, who was on the Cubs last season but signed with the White Sox over the winter.

“I’m so sorry, Steve,” Happ said. “I’m so sorry.”

Unfortunately for Happ and Cubs fans, the utility man dropped the finale to Josh Hader (Brewers). Christian Yelich hit two home runs in the win, but that wasn’t enough to bring down Happ’s excitement.

“Tough way to end the night,” Happ said. “Yelich beat us by himself, though, and I’m OK with that. I would love to play “Go Cubs Go” to end the night, but I just can’t. We’re going to be back, we’re going to have another 3-1 night. We’re going to make it to the playoffs and we’re going to make a run.”

Here are some other highlights from Wednesday's Players League action:

Let’s talk about it
Not only did Dahl beat Cole Tucker (Pirates) on a walk-off double, but the Rockies outfielder decided to FaceTime Tucker moments after the game just to make it hurt a little bit more. That’s cold like the Rockies, man.

“It’s like it rigged it for you,” Tucker said. “The computer is just like, ‘Sure, we just won’t make this [play].’ That was brutal.”

No-hitter, yes! Oh, wait, what?
Giolito got some revenge for Tucker, as the White Sox starter pitched a no-hitter against Dahl and the Rockies later in the night. Giolito and White Sox play-by-play announcer Jason Benneti were celebrating the no-hitter, and rightfully so.

Bennetti then asked Giolito whether it was a perfect game because he didn’t walk anybody, either. That’s when it all got weird. Giolito immediately checked the scoreboard and couldn’t help but smile, thinking that he had just thrown a perfect game with Dallas Keuchel. Games are only three innings long, but still, a perfecto is a perfecto.

But just seconds later, someone in the Twitch comment section pointed out that there was an error on the box score, negating the perfect game. If that’s not sickening enough, the error came on a dropped strike three in which Giolito mistakenly threw to second base instead of first. Giolito couldn’t believe it, taking his glasses off in disgust.

Goodrum touches 'em all
OK, Niko Goodrum is actually really good at the game and he might just be good enough to get the Tigers into the Players League postseason. His virtual player is pretty good, too, as he rounded the bases for an inside-the-park homer with a little -- fine, a lot of help from Fernando Tatis Jr.

Lux Angeles Machine
Gavin Lux beat Tatis, Carlos Santana (Indians), Hunter Pence (Giants) and Jesus Luzardo (A's) en route to a big 4-0 night. Lux is now 7-1 in his first eight games, and it’s tough to see anybody beating the Walker Buehler-Clayton Kershaw combination. In fact, Lux even declared that he’s “going to go 29-1.” There are only 29 games in the regular season, but maybe he’s just already counting his first playoff win. Who knows?

Thursday’s games to watch
Now that the word is out that Joey Gallo is an actual savant on MLB The Show, the Rangers slugger will get everybody’s best shot moving forward. Gallo is back in action Thursday as he puts his 8-0 record to the test against Bo Bichette, Santana, Ryne Stanek and Lux. Both Bichette and Lux are 7-1, so those games should be outstanding.

Snell is also back in action, looking to follow up on his 4-0 night on Monday. Nationals star Juan Soto is must-watch, and he’ll likely be hitting the shuffle against Dwight Smith Jr. (Orioles), Trevor May (Twins), Luke Jackson (Braves) and Tommy Kahnle (Yankees).

As good as the action has been over the first six days, Thursday has the potential to be the best one yet, with 12 players, including the top four, in action.

Where to watch
Over the next few weeks, the league will be livestreamed on MLB social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch), MLB Network's Twitch site, "MLB The Show" social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch), the clubs’ social media accounts and MLB.com. Each player will also stream it from their individual Twitch or YouTube accounts.

Aside from those streams, in order to provide a full gameday experience, MLB Network will provide a live stream in which it will select the best one-on-one matchups and look into other game results and friendly banter.