The pitching wouldn’t have mattered anyway since the Cubs couldn’t score a run, but dang it sure did fall apart at the end.
The Cubs and Brewers had been battling again in a low-scoring one, but Rowan Wick did nooooot have it tonight. He came into a scoreless tie in the 7th and went single, single, sac bunt (error), homer, strikeout, single, walk, pulled. We’ve talked about this before: Wick has always had some hot and cold to him, but the cold streaks this year have been extremely cold. The latest has him allowing eight runs in his last six appearances. It’s … frustrating.
From there, Michael Rucker gave up a couple dingers in the 8th, and that was very much that. Shame for him that it’s all folks will remember – he’d had a 1.70 ERA since July 9 coming into that 8th inning. Alas.
Drew Smyly, for his part, was excellent once again. Just keeps on being this guy, and he’s gonna get paaaid in the offseason.