Enhanced Box Score: Rays 8, Cubs 2 – April 20, 2022
The Cubs totttttally woulda won if the game had been played to completion. No doubt in my mind. Right …
The Cubs got beat up on early in this one by the Rays, who poured it on before the rain poured it on, and it’s an easy loss for the Cubs in both the game and the series (their first series loss since September 24 of last year! Technically!).
There’s no argument that Marcus Stroman’s first inning was good, but it certainly wasn’t four runs bad. He got squeezed badly (which continued after the first), his defense let him down (also continued after the first), and the homer he gave up was of the cheaper variety. It happens, and Stroman was not at his best – see the next inning where he gave up another run – but it’s not like this should be a “he’s bad now!” situation. Not that any two bad starts should make you think that anyway. More on him soon.
Speaking of the defense, Jonathan Villar had a ROUGH night over at third. I’m not saying everything would’ve been different if Patrick Wisdom were in there, and I’m also not saying you abandon your platoon strategies. But I do think it’s a reminder that Wisdom is a plus glove over there, and Villar is probably not.
