If I told you that Jon Lester pitched well, the Cubs got homers from Kyle Schwarber and Willson Contreras (twice), and three hits from Jason Heyward, you’d probably be feeling pretty good about the outcome of this one.
Close at least, right?
Nope. Bombed out.
The Cubs held a 4-1 lead heading into the top of the 7th, but the Nationals scored a couple on Lester that inning, and then blew the doors off in the 8th, when Carl Edwards Jr. (replacing Mike Montgomery earlier than he should have) loaded the bases, hit a batter, and then served up a grand slam. When you can’t command your fastball at all, it doesn’t matter how good it – or your wipeout curveball are – you will not be effective. That’s where Edwards is right now. Killer stuff, absolutely no idea where it’s going.
The Nationals added another homer in the 9th off of Koji Uehara to punctuate the thing, and the Cubs lost a laugher within the span of a few innings. The Nationals are really good offensively, but it still stings.
On a homestand when the Cubs could have gone 4-2 against two very good teams if they had simply held late leads, they instead went 2-4.