Cubs Fight Hard, Fall Short – Focus Turns to 2nd Game of Doubleheader
The Cubs fought hard in this one and for a while it looked like they were well on the way to winning their 9th straight game. They took a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Addison Russell and Tim Federeowicz. All was good and Kyle Hendricks was cruising along, until the seventh inning.
After getting the first two batters out in the top of the seventh, Hendricks allowed a base hit to Padres center fielder Travis Jankowski. At that point, Joe Maddon elected to sit Kyle, who had thrown 102 pitches. In comes Pedro Strop. One throwing error by Javier Baez, a Strop walk and a Brett Wallace home run later, and the Padres were leading 6-4. They added another run in the top of the eighth and go on to take the first game of the doubleheader 7-4.
Stats that mattered
We’re going to try something new and I hope you like it. I would love to hear from you in the comments below if you do or don’t. The idea is simple – Quick game summary (like the one above) followed by another quick look at the stats that mattered. I’ll include a link to the box score, as usual, so if you want more detailed stats then what I show here, you can go over to mlb.com and take a look.
- Hendricks was very good and I would’ve liked to see him stay in the game in the 7th – 6.2IP, 6H, 3R, 2ER, 1BB
- Strop was not good and I wish he didn’t come in at all – 0 outs, 3H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 1HR
- Zobrist stayed hot – 2-for-3, 1R, 2BB
- Russell is looking really good lately – 2-for-4, 2R, 1RBI, 1BB, 2B
- Rizzo is like oil to the machine – 1-for-3, 1RBI, 2BB
- Kris Bryant was 0-for-5 and left seven runners on base
- Soler was 1-for-4 and left five runners on base
Bottom line
The Cubs had one really bad inning and they couldn’t some back from it. You can tell from my tone above that I wasn’t exactly thrilled that Joe pulled Kyle for Strop but it happened and Joe believed it was the right move. They can’t all be right but it sure would be nice, huh?
Next up
The Cubs gear up for the second game of the doubleheader which begins at 7:05 PM CDT. John Lackey will take the ball for the Cubs tonight.