NEWSLETTER
I can’t believe I just witnessed one of “those” moments. You know what I mean. You know exactly what I mean. This is going to stick with us all forever, one way or another.
I feel terrible for Seiya Suzuki that his mistake – just a total whiff on a fly ball that he was under – gave the Braves the lead in the 8th inning. I feel terrible for guys who could have won that game in a week where they need EVERY win they can get. And, honestly, I feel terrible for the fans. For us. I don’t want to have to think about this moment for years to come. I really, really don’t.
Not that Suzuki’s two-run error was the only factor in the Cubs blowing a 6-0 lead in the game. I don’t know what the run-to-run translation is for normal teams, but a 6-0 lead against the 2023 Atlanta Braves is does not FEEL like a 6-0 lead. And they definitely made sure the Cubs knew it. I’m still in shock.
I guess when I think about how the Braves scored their runs, I feel so mixed up.
It’s miserable to have to face this Atlanta Braves lineup even once through, let alone three times. Justin Steele managed well enough those first two times through, and that means I can’t be too upset that he kinda stalled out the third time through (especially when one of his three charged runs scored after he’d departed). The Braves were just fouling off pitch after pitch all night on him, creating a grind, and setting themselves up for some hard contact when he missed his spot. It’s a tough lineup, and that felt like more the issue tonight than any Steele specific struggles.
Javier Assad didn’t look TOO bad – even the home run by Ronald Acuña Jr. came on a pitch on the outer third and down, more or less where he was trying to throw it (Acuña is just a freak (but also it was a .290 xBA pop fly down the line)) – but that’s definitely a tough ask. A guy flips from the rotation to the bullpen, and then throws 49 pitches, and then has to come back into another game, in high leverage, after just two days rest. Tough, tough ask.
Then there’s Drew Smyly, who gave up two runs – his own walks – but he “got out of it” with that fly ball that should have been caught.
I’ll get into it more later, but the decision to have Miles Mastrobuoni sac bunt in the 8th, with YAN GOMES on first base, on a night when Mastrobuoni already had three hits and has been scorching hot … there aren’t enough curse words. Just an egregiously terrible call that I am assuming came from David Ross on the bench, given that Mastrobuoni tried it twice.
Then to follow it with Patrick Wisdom pinch-hitting for Pete Crow-Armstrong, means that you were TRYING to set up Wisdom to be the guy to get a hit and drive in the run … a guy who strikes out a lot. And if it fails, which it did, you make your defense worse in a one-run game.
Which, of course, became fateful immediately thereafter, because if PCA were still in center field for that fly ball in the bottom of the 8th, he probably streaks over, calls off Suzuki, and catches it. I don’t think there’s much question about that, given the way he plays center field. That doesn’t mean Suzuki SHOULDN’T have caught it. He should have. But I am just saying, the whole point of having elite defense available is so that you have it available to preserve tight games. It’s the entire reason PCA is up with the team in the first place. Tonight, it may have been the difference.
Not to let Suzuki off the hook for the drop. Or the pitchers off the hook for the runs ultimately allowed. Or yet another out on the bases. Or even the offense, by the way, because – as usual – they had plenty of opportunities (ones that weren’t torpedoed by a sac bunt call) to tack on even more and didn’t.
There’s a lot happening in this game, and honestly I’m just kind of a mess right now. This whole thing. It’s a mess. The thoughts are going to dark places about the five remaining games now.
