Not a lot of good feeling to take away from this one. Although the Cubs got out to an early lead, and Kyle Hendricks pitched relatively well, the bats failed to really capitalize when they had a chance to blow it wide open in the fifth when they loaded the bases with just one out.
The lead evaporated from there, and the Cubs couldn’t pull out any late-inning heroics.
Edwin Jackson got his chance to be a high-leverage, true reliever when he was brought in with a runner on second in the 6th and the Cubs up 4-2. He promptly gave up a single, a walk, and a single, and he was out of the game. I’m not interested in taking too much away from one game, but he didn’t seem to be particularly comfortable in the role, and obviously it didn’t work out.
The rest of the pen didn’t fare much better …