Chicago Cubs, Game 32: Win Streak Screeches to a Halt
The Chicago Cubs entered the first game of a four-game series against the Miami Marlins riding a seven-game winning streak, but that streak was snapped as they ended up falling by a score of 6–5.
With the St. Louis Cardinals winning on Monday, that put them atop the NL Central division standings with the Cubs a half-game behind in second place. The Milwaukee Brewers also won on Monday, and they sit a half-game behind the Cubs for the second spot and one game behind the Cardinals for first. This tight three-way race is what a lot of people were expecting from this division entering the season, and I expect it to continue through the remainder of the regular season.
Here is how it went down:
The Offense
Things started out great for the Cubs offense in this one, as they scored three runs in the first inning. Two of those came off of the bat of first baseman Anthony Rizzo, as he launched a two-run bomb to left-center field for his 200th career home run. Later on in the inning catcher Willson Contreras drove in a run with a single, and it looked like smooth sailing from that point.
The Cubs forced Miami starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara to throw a ton of pitches (97 pitches in 5 IP), and by the end of the game they ended up recording more walks drawn (10 BB) than hits (8 H). Usually that is a recipe for a blow-out victory, but Chicago was unable to capitalize on many of their opportunities in this one.
A prime example of this was the bottom of the sixth inning, as the Cubs got each of their first four hitters of the frame to reach base and scored one run (on a single by Kyle Schwarber). Even though they had the bases loaded with no outs, they failed to score any more runs in the inning and left the frame with a one-run lead when they should have gotten much more than that.
The Cubs only got one other run on a solo home run by Kris Bryant in the bottom of the ninth, but it ended up not being enough as they came up on the wrong side of this one.
The Pitching
Cole Hamels got the start for the Cubs in this one, and he turned in a quality outing. Over six innings of work he allowed three earned runs, five hits, and put up a 7:2 K:BB. Hamels was able to make it through six full innings tonight while posting his lowest single-game pitch count of the season thus far (a still considerable 93 pitches). Even though he had to fight a consistently inconsistent strike zone from home plate umpire Marvin Hudson, he was able to throw 65.6% of them for strikes.
This was the first quality start by Hamels since April 17, which also came against the Marlins. He had the earned run qualifications in each of his last two outings, but he only recorded 5 1/3 IP in both of those games. Hamels now has four quality starts on the season, and he has recorded a QS every time he has been able to complete at least 6 IP this year.
The first two pitchers out of the bullpen pitched well for the Cubs in this game. Carl Edwards Jr. made his first appearance for the Cubs since April 5, and he retired the side in order in the seventh inning despite not having his best command. He was followed by Brad Brach in the eighth, and he also posted a flawless frame while recording one strikeout.
The ninth inning is where things went south for the north siders. Pedro Strop blew a save opportunity as he allowed all four batters he faced to reach base (three walks, one hit), and he ended up being charged with three earned runs. Two of those runs came with Kyle Ryan on the mound, and the last of those two should not have happened.
With one out in the ninth inning and runners on second and third, Ryan induced a ground ball that came right back to him. The runner on third was caught in no man’s land and Ryan initially motioned as if he were going to throw the ball to Contreras to get the out at the plate (which he should have done), but instead he chose to get the force out at first instead. Rizzo ended up throwing out the other runner on the play but the damage was done as it allowed an insurance run to score for Miami, and that run ended up being the difference.
Coming Up
The Cubs have three more games remaining in this series against the Marlins, and will pick things back up with a Tuesday night game (7:05 PM CT start time). There will be a pair of solid southpaws starting that one, as Jon Lester (1.73 ERA, 0.96 WHIP) and Caleb Smith (2.00 ERA, 0.83 WHIP) will take the mound for their respective teams. The Cubs will also have Kyle Hendricks (3.93 ERA, 1.43 WHIP) and Yu Darvish (5.79 ERA, 1.71 WHIP) toe the rubber in the last two games of this series.
After this series wraps up, the Cubs will play host to the Milwaukee Brewers for a three-game weekend set.
