I suspect the Cubs haven’t lost too many games in which they’ve homered five times, much less lost those games by three runs or more.
Sure, the offense had more opportunities, and sure, you’d like some more of those dingers to have come with guys on base. But for the second night in a row, by and large, the offense did its job. It was once again the pitching (and, to a lesser extent, the defense) that dropped the ball.
Jon Lester didn’t actually get as smoked by super hard contact as the final line looks, but it was plenty hard enough to do damage when in the air, especially when paired with a continued struggle to miss bats overall. When you allow that many balls in play in the air (he had a mere 38.1% groundball rate for the game), decent contact – even if not rockets – turns into hits aplenty. Sprinkle in three walks in his 5.2 innings of work, and it turns into another starting pitcher dud for the Cubs.
And all this against an Astros lineup without Jose Altuve, George Springer, or Carlos Correa. Ouch.
Here’s hoping the digging the Cubs are doing on Lester’s mechanics will bear fruit next time out.
The bullpen did no favors in keeping the Astros at bay from there, despite the Cubs’ efforts to keep climbing back into the game.