Pink power: Baez wins game with special bat

CHICAGO — Before Sunday’s game, the Cubs’ Javier Baez positioned his pink bats, pink batting gloves, pink shoes and pink shirt on his chair to take a photo and post it on Instagram with the message, “Happy Mother’s Day.” In the 13th inning, he made the bat even more special by using it to hit a walk-off home run.

Baez made his mother — and all the mothers among the 41,233 fans at Wrigley Field — very happy by belting a blast with one out in the 13th to lift Chicago to a 4-3 victory over the Nationals.

• Day full of grace for Cubs’ Bat Girl at Wrigley

“This is one of those days we all look forward to,” Chicago’s Kris Bryant said of Mother’s Day. “It’s great — we’re all wearing pink. Today is for them. If it wasn’t for my mom, I wouldn’t be here. I’m grateful for everything she’s done for me. It’s a day to show all of our moms we appreciate them.”

Anthony Rizzo had his mother Laurie’s name engraved on his pink bats, and he planned on sending her one as a souvenir. Baez, though, made the biggest statement with his home run, giving the Cubs their first walk-off win of the season.

“You can see how much power he’s got,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “That was pretty much a one-hand flip of the bat. That had rockets on it, man, and that was …

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