Ah, well. At least it was a fun one, right? The Cubs winning streak has come to an end at 7 games, but it wasn’t without some late drama.
Homers from Rafael Ortega and Ian Happ (who had another three-hit game tonight, including his 20th homer of the season) kept it close. And the Cubs had the tying run on base in the 9th, before they fell just short of completing the comeback. Even Frank Schwindel was held hitless in this one. What are you gonna do when that happens?Â
That said … if it wasn’t for some sticky ivy that prevented Ian Happ from scoring on Patrick Wisdom’s rocket double to left field in the sixth inning, the Cubs might’ve stolen another win from the Reds. They just kept on fighting and fighting, and it was really nice to see. I am just enjoying watching this team so much more than I anticipated back at the deadline.
Speaking of fighting, Adrian Sampson, who started this game allowing *nothing but hard contact* managed to keep throwing strikes and battle his way through 5.0 innings, allowing just the two first inning solo home runs. After him, Trevor Megill brought some serious heat to the ballpark, touching 98 MPH, for 2 scoreless innings of relief. Ultimately, Manny Rodriguez was the one who let the game get out of reach in his inning of work, but like I said, the Cubs kept grinding even after that and almost came all the way back.
The winning streak was fun while it lasted. Time to start a new one. Or, you know, re-start that dive for five, which is probably more like a dive for seven, at best at this point.