If you’re going to lose, you might as well lose in embarrassing fashion, I always say. Wait. Why do I say that?
The Cubs squandered a brilliant outing by Cole Hamels today, handing the Cardinals their only runs of the game when (1) a Willson Contreras throw went into center field, letting Jedd Gyorko steal second and take third, ultimately scoring on a sac fly; and (2) a picked-off Kolten Wong who nevertheless successfully reached second base and then scored on a hit.
The offense had nothing. No Cubs except Anthony Rizzo could see the pitches Adam Wainwright was throwing today – at least that is the only explanation I have for how the aged remains of Wainwright could throw 126 PITCHES and not allow bupkis to the Cubs.
The few modest chances the Cubs had were snuffed out by great defensive plays on would-be Rizzo hits. The second of those ended the 8th inning and prevented what would have been the tying run at the time. In the 9th, the Cubs got a run that didn’t matter because of the free insurance run they’d given up an inning earlier.
That’s a sweep. A very non-competitive sweep at that. Cubs better regroup quickly, because the stretch doesn’t get any easier from here, and they don’t have any off-days to rest up any time soon.