Outside of the now obligatory Javy Baez flair, the Cubs’ bats continued to look largely flat in this one. That included rare ugly at bats from Kris Bryant, more ugly at bats from Ian Happ, and a surprisingly ugly pinch-hit at bat from Tommy La Stella. Almost everyone was infected today.
Most of their opportunities were offered up by Cardinals pitchers, and then ultimately squandered by the Cubs’ inability to cash in. I’m not Mad Online about it for today, but it was especially frustrating to see the Cubs fail to pound Adam Wainwright, who does not appear to be an especially impressive pitcher anymore.
Tyler Chatwood’s night was about as Tyler Chatwood as it gets: the stuff was absolutely filthy, and he had almost no idea where it was going. Repeatedly, Cardinals batters simply opted to just take pitches, knowing they couldn’t really hit it if they swung, and knowing they had a chance if they just chilled.
Thanks to the killer stuff, Chatwood again worked around a lot of self-induced traffic on the bases, but he couldn’t keep them all from scoring, and he couldn’t extend his outing past the 5th inning. I love the stuff. I love the strikeouts. But there’s gotta be a balance there, because seven walks in 4.2 innings will usually get you obliterated, no matter how good the stuff is.
Still, the Cubs may have had a chance but for the appearance of Pedro Strop’s struggles against the Cardinals (remember how that was a thing, and then maybe it wasn’t, and then maybe it was again?). That put the game out of reach (as it turned out).