The most ridiculous ending to a game we’ve seen in a while. Just dropped a pop-up. In the 11th inning. Game over. Cubs walk it off. Wowsa. Guffaw.
Still very much managing to win, David Ross did not feel like Keegan Thompson had it tonight, and quickly moved to pull him in the second inning in favor of Adrian Sampson, who once again pitched more than capably. That kept the Cubs in the game into the later innings despite the early 3-0 deficit, setting up the Rafael Ortega and Ian Happ blasts in the 7th.
Rowan Wick threw the best bad 9th inning ever. You kinda had to see it, but he was making great pitches, looking nasty throughout the appearance. But thanks to a groundball that found a hole, a bouncer off the plate, and catcher interference, Wick only had to give up a looping single to blow the save. He immediately got a double-play ball after that. So much better than the stat line.
Kudos to Manny Rodriguez and Codi Heuer for pitching so well in extras to keep the game tied.
How about Scott Effross, too? Shaking off the nerves of his uneven debut outing, the guy threw two perfect innings with FOUR swinging strikeouts. It was very much one of those, oh, hello outings. He’s up here to try to show that he’s worth keeping on the 40-man roster all offseason, and that was definitely a helpful appearance.