NEWSLETTER
The Braves won the battle of the dingers, 3 to 2, and won the game 6 to 5 on that basis. That stuff, on its own, doesn’t really concern me – you’re going to lose some games like that.
Instead, it was the extreme volume of baserunners the Cubs’ pitcher allowed throughout the day, some defensive sloppiness, and the inability to take advantage of the wind that chaps me. Of course, the Braves could have scored about a billion more runs in this one, so maybe I’m ridiculous to feel like the Cubs should have won.
The Braves were 1-14 with RISP and left 12 on. Does that mean they deserved to lose, too? Or that the Cubs were lucky it was even close?
Jose Quintana did not have his best command today, yielding deep counts and hard contact aplenty. Not only did that put the Cubs in a tough spot to try to win the game, but it also once again forced the bullpen to eat a ton of innings at the start of a stretch where they were already going to be very busy without an off-day. Not good.
Cubs pitchers on the whole were walk crazy in this one, and although the floating strike zone didn’t help, it certainly wasn’t solely to blame.
Offensively, it was just the two two-run homers today for the Cubs before they loaded the bases with one out in the 9th, but pinch hitter David Bote struck out, Ian Happ was hit by a pitch to bring the Cubs within one, and Kris Bryant lined out to Ronald Acuña to end it. So close. But it’s a loss.
