A crummy game from the word go, as the Cubs flailed away against Ty Blach, and Jose Quintana gave up a three-run homer in the first inning, which set the tone for the rest of the night.
Sure, the homer was of the wind-aided, fan-aided, barely-got-out variety, and sure, the two runners on based had reached on a nothing grounder and an error. But still, Quintana made a terrible pitch to the one guy in the lineup to whom you can’t make a terrible pitch, and he got punished for it. I can’t shred a guy for a single mistake – you’ll often get away with single mistakes, and all pitchers make them – but it was disappointing nonetheless.
Offensively, the Cubs couldn’t get any kind of power game going against Blach, who admittedly has been on about a half-season streak of befuddling opponents in a similar fashion. That, too, was disappointing nonetheless.
Justin Wilson gave up yet another run (albeit on a couple grounders with eyes, the second of which really should have been stopped in the infield), as did Koji Uehara (albeit of the inherited variety, after he departed with a neck issue). At least Carl Edwards Jr. had a nice appearance in a tight spot.
Not a lot of good stuff to take away from this one. It certainly doesn’t all fall on Quintana – or even most of it – but the Cubs do need him to be more than he has been the last few starts.