NEWSLETTER
The Cubs’ six-game winning streak came to an end, but at least they didn’t get no-hit on top of it. Sorry I passed out in the late innings. I take my pre-Blogathon sleep prep seriously, especially now that you’ve locked in the full 41 hours with your generosity for Make-A-Wish.
Alex Wood held the Cubs down for six innings, but Ian Happ ended the no-no in the 7th, and Patrick Wisdom following with a homer to ensure there wouldn’t even be a shutout. Moral victories and such.
Justin Steele had the worst luck you can imagine in a start, with a third inning that featured a dropped pop up on the infield, a dribbled single to third base, a HBP that just barely clipped a pant leg, a bloop single to the outfield, and another infield single to shortstop. All told, the damage that inning was three unearned runs and 39 pitches, which pretty much ended Steele’s night. He came out for the 4th, but you weren’t going to let him go much deeper. In other words, read nothing into his short night. It should’ve been much longer.
Erich Uelmen took over for Steele and looked the part he’s looked at Triple-A: he got a couple strikeouts over his 2.1 scoreless, and four groundouts. His sinker-slider stuff just moves so late that I’m thinking it’s going to be very hard for batters to get under the ball. Glad he’s getting some time in the second half, because the Cubs have a lot of young bullpen arms to get a look at.
Speaking of the bullpen performance and eventually clearing space for young arms …
