NEWSLETTER
A game that’ll leave you with a sick feeling, because it really checked every box: bullpen losing it late? Check. Offense falling apart in the biggest spots? Check. Dropping the finale of a series when you had a chance to pull of a really impactful sweep? Check. The Cubs can make any series win feel like absolute crap.
My thoughts are all scattered because of how awful that all was. If it wasn’t for that one loss in Houston, I would say this is easily the worst loss of the year. So we’ll call it second worst.
Mark Leiter Jr. managed to blow this one twice, which I can kind of forgive because of how good he’s been, but two TWO two-run home runs in two different innings to give up the lead. That’s hard to pull off.
And then the Cubs have a golden opportunity to once again take the lead back in the 8th, but a trio of strikeouts with runners in scoring position killed it.
And then the Cubs had ANOTHER golden opportunity in the bottom of the 9th, loading the bases with one out, but a strikeout and a fly out ended it.
Even when they scored, I was kinda left wanting. The Cubs gave away outs in the 7th, some by design (a sac bunt) and some not (Trey Mancini getting thrown out at second on the hit that scored the run), so you wonder what might have happened if the Cubs had just played it straight. Maybe they score only one regardless. Maybe they score multiple and the rest of the game is therefore completely different. Maybe they score none. I just hate free outs.
Also adding to the sick feeling: wondering about Justin Steele at the moment, after he exited the game with “left forearm tightness.” That doesn’t really tell us much, and we’ll just have to wait for a more complete update (and then probably some rest, and then maybe some testing, and then MAYBE we’ll actually know what’s up).
At a game level, it was particularly disappointing, because Steele cruised for the three innings he was on the mound. Then again, Wesneski was outstanding for 3.2 innings, just missing finishing the 7th by an inch or two.
Unfortunately, that two-out walk preceded Mark Leiter Jr. giving up the rare homer to a lefty, which tied the game at two. (This isn’t really one of those times when I have a huge beef with a decision that didn’t work out. Leiter has been dominant, especially against lefties, and Wesneski has struggled against them. Seemed a correct pull in the moment. Didn’t work out, as Leiter hung a terrible pitch and it got crushed. Sometimes that happens. But bringing him back out for the second inning? I suppose that you could question more.)
Then the offense failed and failed and failed to come through when one hit would’ve changed the game. Story of the season. Rinse, repeat.
That game did its darnedest to take my mind off the injury and put it onto something else exasperating. So thanks, I guess.
