Coming into this series, the Cubs had a better record than the Marlins by 2.5 games. That is now down to 1.5 games. Do with that information what you will.
Despite an early 2-0 lead, the Cubs went down big rather quickly, thanks in large part to a Bryan De La Cruz grand slam off of Wade Miley in the 3rd. Miley’s line is softened by the Christopher Morel error that preceded a grand slam, but Miley was hardly at his most sharp tonight. A lot of pitches left out over the plate and punished for it.
It was nice to see Good Jeremiah Estrada for an outing. He was wild to the first batter he faced – walked on four pitches – and then struck out the next three, showing off his late-life fastball. He pitched a second scoreless inning thereafter, adding another strikeout. Needed to see an outing like that from him, if only to remind myself how good he can be.
Some tack-on runs later, and the Cubs lost big.
There weren’t a lot of them tonight, but this is definitely a highlight:
Offensively, the Cubs got a homer from Christopher Morel, a nice night from Zach McKinstry, and not a ton else.