Jon Lester was excellent today, but the Cubs’ bats couldn’t really get much cooking against Joe Ross. You’ve heard this story before.
The only ding on Lester was a first inning run, which came after the Cubs had scored in the top of the first. This, too, you’ve heard before.
The Cubs did take a 7th inning lead on Jeimer Candelario’s first career homer, immediately before Carl Edwards Jr. gave up a walk and a dinger to surrender the lead in the same inning. Yes. You know that one well, too.
Pedro Strop came in, and couldn’t quite stop the bleed. Familiar? Yup.
… but then something else happened.
With two outs in the 9th inning, down two runs to one of the best teams in baseball, the Cubs … came back. Missing what seems like half of their roster, the Cubs – Javy Baez, Tommy La Stella, and Jon Jay, specifically – strung together consecutive hits to give the Cubs the lead.
What just happened?
The Cubs just pulled off a VERY big win.