Too close for comfort but Cubs win!
Whew! The first nailbitter of 2020 and boy, there was a lot of anxiety. Things were looking great early on for the Cubs, as they jumped on Wade Miley early, scoring four in the first, all with two outs. It was highlighted by a two run double by Souza Jr, who was getting his first start. Cubs then added two more in the second to knock Miley out of the game.
Jon Lester was the Lester of old. He went five innings and didn’t allow a hit. It may have seemed like he a short leash but it was never expected for him to go more than 75–80 pitches. Either way, he exited with a 7–0 lead and it looked like easy cruising for there…not quite.
The Cubs bullpen was all sorts of messy…again. Winkler came in and couldn’t get outs. Wick was able to come in and clean up the initial mess. But things got worse. Underwood and Norwood did not look good and suddenly it was 8–5 going into the ninth and then the wheels feel off. Kimbrel had no control. While his fastball was clocking in at 97mph, he couldn’t throw strikes. He walked four and hit a batter and was pulled with the bases loaded and the Cubs now only up by run.
Ross summoned Jeffress, who bailed out Kimbrel getting a strikeout and then getting Votto to pop out on a payoff pitch. Cubs win 8–7 and improve to 3–1 on the young short season. But boy that bullpen needs some to turn it around quickly. Cubs will go at it again tomorrow in Ohio as Alec Mills takes on Tyler Mahle at 5:40pm on Marquee Sports and 670 The Score.
