The offense could have scored more than one run in 10 innings, so I guess I can’t just hang this one on the embarrassing strike zone in the bottom of the 10th. But I’ll still be chapped about it.
Dillon Maples came into the game to get the final two outs of the 10th with a runner on second, and it would seem he struck out the first batter he faced, but somehow, an earlier strike was completely missed, and then this was called a ball:
That's a strike. pic.twitter.com/nADQeVWwCK
— Cubs Talk (@NBCSCubs) June 1, 2019
Then Maples threw four pitches nowhere close to the plate to walk the bases loaded (even when you get screwed the batter before, you just can’t let that happen). Steve Cishek tried to clean things up, had his first pitch – in the strike zone, clearly – called a ball, then a 1-0 deep fly ball hit (because the outfield was all in) ended it.
It’s a damn shame, too, because Yu Darvish was great. He walked the first two batters of the game, and then went six brilliant innings. The bullpen was, overall, fantastic, too.
But the bats weren’t there tonight. Heck, the one run the Cubs scored was driven in by Darvish.