Here’s what you need to know about today’s game against the Pirates: Leonys Martin made his Cubs debut … as a pitcher.
This, eh hem, was not a competitive game. Even Martin’s 91 mph sinkers couldn’t save the day (and, in fact, they got wrecked – nice in theory, though!).
That the Cubs lost their starting pitcher in the third inning certainly didn’t help, as Jake Arrieta suffered an apparent hamstring issue (we don’t yet know if it was an “injury”). It was really hard to care about too much else after that, and the Cubs’ play mirrored that fan affect.
Justin Grimm and Rob Zastryzny did a reasonable enough job keeping the Cubs in the game until things totally fell apart in the 8th inning.
Offensively, the Cubs did nothing worth noting in this space. Cubs lose. Big.