Well, it had to happen eventually. Wade Davis finally gave up a run. Two of them, actually, on a Mac Williamson home run that barely reached the basket in right field – dude earned it, though, fighting off pitch after pitch, and homering on the 12th pitch of the at bat.
Thankfully, the day Davis chose to give up a couple runs was also the day he was charged with preserving a three-run lead. After the Williamson homer, Davis walked a guy with one out, and it took a scary looking blooper (caught by a ranging Javy Baez) and a not-usually-called-a-strike strike three call on a very borderline pitch to end the inning and the game. Exhale.
Anthony Rizzo got the Cubs their first two runs with a couple solo homers that cared not for the wind, and the Cubs added three runs from there to provide the extremely necessary cushion.
Kyle Hendricks was very solid, with a good changeup going and not a lot of hard contact, and continuing a stretch over the past month when he’s been consistently quite good again.
I am VERY glad the following section did not actually factor in the game outcome:
The Cubs got screwed almost beyond words in the 6th inning, when Jason Heyward (who’d juuuuust missed a three-run homer foul) dribbled a ball that pitcher Matt Moore grabbed and threw to first as Heyward arrived at the base. The ball hit Heyward’s leg, got away, and a run scored. Except it didn’t. Because Heyward was called for interference because he kinda stepped just to the left of the base line as he arrived at the bag … but, I mean, he was just running! There was absolutely nothing about it that looked like anything other than a completely typical play, and the fielder didn’t have a great angle on the throw not because Heyward was interfering, but because that’s just where the ball was. And Heyward had reached the base already anyway!
It was a horrible, horrible, horrible judgment call. We’ll have more on it in the morning, including – I can only expect – a formal “oopsie” from the ump/MLB.
I am also VERY glad the following shorter section did not actually factor in the game outcome:
Thanks to a karmic throwing error, the Cubs had runners at 2nd and 3rd in the 7th with nobody out and a 4-2 lead, but Albert Almora grounded out, and then Kris Bryant and Ian Happ struck out to end the frame. Coming away without any additional runs there felt like it was going to hurt even more when the Giants loaded the bases against Koji Uehara and Carl Edwards Jr. the following inning, but a Brandon Crawford tapper back to Edwards (who SPRINTED to first base for the flip) ended the threat.
Anyway, even more coulda gone wrong in that one, but didn’t. So, hooray Cubs!