Baseball is just so ridiculous, isn’t it?
From the highest highs of that five-game winning streak (the one that included the comeback against Josh Hader, Alec Mills’ no-hitter, and two walk-offs) to the lowest lows of being completely and totally unable to score against the Pirates. And then right back to the highest highs of a game the Cubs really needed to win turning into a laugher sufficient to allow Javy Báez to bat left-handed (and hit a double!).
The win, combined with one Cardinals loss to the Brewers today, means the Cubs’ magic number is down to just one.
Yu Darvish was exceptional once again, putting himself in Cy Young position with seven shutout innings. We’ll have that discussion very soon, but suffice to say, he’s done all he can this year.
Tonight, though, the bats got all the attention, which happens when you score as many runs in a single game as you had in the previous seven combined. The Cubs got homers from Willson Contreras (x2), Kyle Schwarber, Javy Báez (right-handed), and Victor Caratini (also right-handed), and made Dylan Cease’s night rough from the get-go.
Contreras had a particularly good night, reaching base four times, and flipping his bat to the moon. So high, in fact, that the White Sox plunked him, and he bat flipped that, too.
