Welp, the Cubs scored seven runs, so this was a high-scoring offensive game!
… I kid, of course, because six of those runs came in the 14th inning. Offense is contagious and all that.
Luke Farrell deserves all your praise for not only wearing this one with a worn out bullpen, but doing so very well until he started getting into “starter’s” innings. Even then, he and the defense kept the Mets off the board long enough for the bats to wake up.
And wake up they did in the 14th, with Albert Almora Jr. ripping a two-run double, Ben Zobrist poking another two-run double, and Javy Baez tomahawking a two-run homer. It was a fun inning after a lot of waiting for that.
This was very nearly an ugly loss, notwithstanding the fact that the Cubs were facing the fantastic Jacob deGrom (remember him from much, much earlier tonight?) The Cubs got a great outing by Mike Montgomery, but couldn’t do much when he was in. The Cubs struck out 24 times. The Cubs couldn’t do anything with runners on base until the 14th. The Cubs had five at bats with the bases loaded before the 14th and struck out all five times.
There was so much ugly potential there. Thank goodness it did not come to fruition.
But the bullpen locked things down after Montgomery departed, and especially Farrell, who threw five scoreless and now might have to head to AAA to rest up as his reward, so the Cubs can get a fresh arm up.
It was strange to see Javy Baez come up to hit when the Cubs had already plated four in the 14th, given that he was not used as a pinch hitter in one of the spots Farrell batted earlier (including first and third with one out). And that’s especially true when we learned that Brandon Morrow was actually available to finish the game. I can only assume it was a last-minute 14th inning change of plans situation, and not saving the closer for the bottom of an inning on the road. Because that easily could have cost the Cubs this game, and definitely would have cost them an excellent scoring opportunity. I’ll be curious to hear more about that.
In any case, the Cubs won, and all is well with the world. They’ll get a chance at a four-game sweep tomorrow. Err, well, later today. Oh, bonus shout to Jason Heyward for yet another multi-hit game.