The Cubs’ bats were stymied once again by very good pitching – this time by the dude who has been the best pitcher in baseball and has done that to literally every single team he’s faced this year. So, I don’t know, it’s kinda hard to be too pissed off about that part.
Jose Quintana was very good in the middle innings of his start! … but unfortunately the bookends exist. In the first inning, he could not throw it in the strike zone, which meant he walked in a run. In the 6th inning, he couldn’t throw it anywhere except the middle of the strike zone, which meant he got hammered.
Still, he was charged with just two earned runs on the night because his bullpen was AWESOME cleaning up the 6th. Brandon Kintzler and Tim Collins got out of a 2nd and 3rd, nobody out jam. They were helped by Dave Roberts’ decision to let Hyun-Jin Ryu hit for himself with one out and the bases loaded.
It didn’t wind up hurting the Dodgers too badly, because they took the lead in the bottom of the 8th on a bloop by Russell Martin, scoring Chris Taylor (who’d previously walked on an extremely close call):
.@russellmartin55 muscle, CT3 hustle. pic.twitter.com/n8dEEQKoiw
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 17, 2019
What can you say? That’s just a terrible send, and an even worse throw from Kris Bryant. A mediocre throw nails Taylor easily. It happens, I guess, especially when the thrower is mostly an infielder. Still. Should be able to make that throw.
It’s no guarantee the Cubs would have scored after that anyway, as they failed to push one across against Kenley Jansen in the 9th despite getting the first two guys on, and getting the tying run to third with just one out. Victor Caratini bounced one back to the mound, and then Javy Baez lined out to center field to end it.
Competitive game, but ultimately a series loss, capping off an ugly 2-5 road trip.