I still don’t hate the extra-innings rule, but it sure is annoying when your team loses. Heck, in this one, Craig Kimbrel gets hung with the loss and all he did was get two strikeouts, and give up a groundball through the shift and a looping single. Two runs for that. Sigh.
A rough pitching day for the Cubs from the jump, as Trevor Williams’ command was off, and the Tigers made him pay for it, enough that he lasted just two innings. Alec Mills didn’t fare much better as the follow-up, and the Cubs also got an ugly Rex Brothers outing, too, which together was why this one went to extras despite the Cubs plating 7 through the first five innings. That should’ve been plenty against these Tigers. Just a bad pitching day.
Keegan Thompson was a standout, though, striking out the side in his first inning of work, all swinging (dude came into today with a 5.7% K rate (not a typo), and a 3.1% swinging strike rate (also not a typo)). It wasn’t a fluke, either, because he was finally busting out the best version of his curveball to pair with the new and nasty cutter and the 95 mph fastball. Thompson came back out for the 9th, striking out the first batter of the inning (looking) and the last batter of the inning (swinging).
Matt Duffy played the best game he could, THREE TIMES giving the Cubs the lead, including the brief lead run in the 10th. His five RBI today were a career-high. Seven total bases, too. Did his part. Alas.