Chicago Cubs Finish Homestand With Series Loss to the Brewers
To finish off the inaugural homestand of the 2021 season the Chicago Cubs squared off against the division-rival Milwaukee Brewers in a three-game set. Depending on what preseason projections you looked at you could find the Brewers expected to finish anywhere from first to fourth in the division, largely because there is not one individual club that truly stands out from the rest in this division.
Here is a quick recap on what happened in this series:
Game 1: Trevor Williams’ Cubs Debut
The biggest highlight of the series opener was Cubs starter Trevor Williams, who made his regular season debut for the team his father grew up rooting for. Williams had himself a night as the first five innings he threw were perfect — 15 up, 15 down. He did not allow a baserunner until Omar Narvaez hit a leadoff single in the top of the sixth, but despite allowing the bases to load up in that frame he got through it without allowing a run.
The Cubs offense was driven by the longball in this game, and most of their damage came in the fourth inning. After a leadoff walk by Ian Happ, catcher Willson Contreras launched his first homerun of the new campaign to start the scoring. Later on in the frame Javier Baez and David Bote knocked out back-to-back homers (the first of the year for each of them as well) to extend the lead to four runs.
Williams went back out on the mound to start the seventh inning, but got pulled after allowing the first two batters to reach base. He got charged with two earned runs after reliever Jason Adam allowed Narvaez to launch a three-run homer, but it was still a very strong debut performance for Williams despite the way it finished out. Eric Sogard drove in an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI triple, and Alec Mills was called upon to close out the game with closer Craig Kimbrel having pitched in each of the previous two games.
Game 2: The Silence of the Bats
The Cubs offense simply did not show up in this game, as they got absolutely stymied by the Brewers pitchers. Though they were able to draw some walks in this game (five total, four off of starting pitcher Freddy Peralta), they only mustered one hit in the contest.
Kris Bryant recorded the lone Cubs knock of the game, hitting a double against Peralta in the fourth inning. Aside from that they drew those five walks and had one batter get hit by a pitch. It was a very poor showing by the Cubs in this game, and they did nothing to help pick up their young starting pitcher on the mound.
That young pitcher was rookie Adbert Alzolay, who entered the season unsure if he’d be optioned down to Triple-A for the fourth time in his career. He ended up securing the last spot in the starting rotation and pushed Alec Mills — who had a 1.155 WHIP as a starter last season and threw a no-hitter — into the bullpen.
In this contest he did allow 4 ER over 5 IP and all of those runs came on the strength of two homeruns, one by Travis Shaw in the first inning and the other by Omar Narvaez in the fourth. Aside from that first frame Alzolay looked alright, so hopefully in future outings he can limit more of the damage against him.
Game 3: Extra Inning Letdown
In their sixth game of the season the Cubs entered their first extra inning contest, and they got there thanks to the strength of their pitching. They got a great performance out of their starter Kyle Hendricks, who allowed just five baserunners (4 H, 1 BB) over six shutout innings.
The Brewers also got a great performance out of their starting pitcher, as Brandon Woodruff did not even allow a hit until Ian Happ singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning and he finished this game with 1 H allowed and an 8:0 K:BB over seven shutout frames.
Lorenzo Cain got the scoring started with a solo HR in the top of the eighth inning off of Cubs reliever Alec Mills, and Joc Pederson answered with a solo shot of his own in the bottom half of the frame against Brewers reliever Devin Williams. Both teams got scoreless ninth innings out of their usual closing pitchers — Craig Kimbrel and Josh Hader, respectively — and that sent this game into extra innings.
Cain went on to wreak more havoc on the Cubs in the tenth inning, as he launched a three-run HR off of Brandon Workman. After a rough 2020 season Workman sat on the free agent market for quite some time before the Cubs signed him to a relatively cheap deal in mid-February. He had some solid seasons from 2017–19 with the Red Sox, including a great 2019 season in which he posted a 1.88 ERA, 1.033 WHIP, and 13.1 K/9 rate, so there is some track record of him pitching well in the majors.
In his first three outings as a Cub, Workman is looking like he is still the underwhelming 2020 version of himself and not showing any signs of being the solid reliever he used to be with Boston. Over 2 2/3 IP — which, granted, is an extremely small sample size — he has allowed 3 R (2 ER), 3 H, 2 BB, and is not throwing the ball well at all here in the early going. There is plenty of time for him to figure things out and right the ship, but any usage of him in a high leverage situation for the time being does not seem like a great idea.
The offense did their best to fight back as Jason Heyward hit an RBI single and the Cubs got the bases loaded with two outs, but they were unable to finish their second comeback of the game and ended up dropping the rubber match.
Thursday begins a three-game series for the Cubs against the Pirates in Pittsburgh, with Friday being the off day in that stretch. Jake Arrieta, Zach Davies, and Trevor Williams are in line to take the mound for the Cubs in this series, and after that set concludes they will travel to Milwaukee to take on the Brewers in another three-game series. An interesting start to the season schedule wise playing the same two teams for their first twelve games, but it is what it is.
Stay tuned to Wrigley Rapport here and on social media for future news and notes as we kick off the 2021 season. Go Cubs Go!
