I cannot believe the Cubs won that game, and if you were watching through five innings, you wouldn’t have believed it either.
The Cubs were down 4-1, with the one run coming as a total freebie in the first inning. They hadn’t recorded a hit on the night, and, coupled with the earlier rough performance in the day, just felt like they weren’t going to do much.
But a rocket Willson Contreras double to score Javy Báez, a Jason Heyward walk, and then a pinch-hit three-run blast from David Bote later … suddenly the Cubs were on top. It happened so fast. “It’s baseball” can be a good thing, too.
Here’s what I’d written about the 6th inning before Bote’s homer. It still basically stands, though Bote’s swing changes the context a bit: “When Kyle Schwarber tries to bunt for a hit on an 0-2 count, you get a pretty nice sense of how the Cubs offense feels about itself right now. He fouled it off and struck out, by the way. Also providing a nice sense of the offense. Oh, and in that same inning, after Willson Contreras crushed a double for the Cubs’ first hit of the night, Ian Happ tried to bunt. He was easily thrown out. What. The. F***.”
Anyway, back to the positive stuff, though. All in all, a decent night from the Cubs’ bullpen, where they had to cover five innings after fill-in starter Tyson Miller got them two (two runs allowed). Kyle Ryan gave up back-to-back homers, but that was the only damage against the pen.
Also, when Bote was coming to the plate to pinch hit for Caratini, here’s something that happened – embarrassing, but worth it:
Welp, Bote pinch-hitting for Vic. I guess offer still stands.
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) August 18, 2020
I LOVE VICTOR CARATINI (and David Bote) pic.twitter.com/AZYoaBWIz3
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) August 18, 2020
Cubs win. Cubs win. The losing streak is over.