If the Cubs are going to finally start winning some games on the road, they can’t afford to be blowing ones they lead by two runs in the 8th inning.
But that’s exactly what happened, as Pedro Strop’s usage as the primary 8th inning setup guy burned the Cubs again (more on that later), squandering what had been a useable night from the rest of the pitching crew.
The leash on fill-in starter Alec Mills was expectedly short, but he once again flashed big league stuff. He doesn’t quite look like a guy who is going to break out into a quality middle-of-the-rotation type, but he’s gotta be giving the Cubs thoughts about how he could be a useful swing arm in 2020.
It wasn’t a great night for the bats, as the whiffs piled up and they didn’t really give themselves a lot of scoring opportunities. But a couple solo homers from Robel Garcia and Kyle Schwarber, and a couple more runs should have been enough to win this one.
Maybe I’ll comfort myself by noting that maybe the Giants “deserved” to win this one eventually anyway …