Untimely error, Stroman blister send Cubs sinking in London
Not sure how many people remember the movie, "Oliver!," the musical based on the Charles Dickens novel "Oliver Twist."
Toward the end of the 1968 film, Fagin, leader of the orphan pickpocket gang, tries to escape authorities with a box of jewels, but trips and watches it sink into the muck.
That's pretty much what happened to the Cubs' momentum in London on Sunday.
Coming off a 9-1 romp in the series opener, the Cubs scored 4 runs in the top of the first inning. Then came a bad error at first base, a rare subpar outing by Marcus Stroman and the Cubs headed back across the Atlantic riding a 7-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Consider yourself a sub-. 500 team, still.
Stroman ended up leaving the game during the fourth inning with a blister on his right index finger. He told reporters he noticed it during pregame warmups and it kept getting worse.
"You could just tell the pitches weren't as sharp as they had been, and we had a fully rested bullpen," Cubs manager Davis Ross said.
There was a precise moment when the Cubs momentum disappeared into the muck. Stroman loaded the bases with one out in the second, but should have been out of the inning. He struck out Paul DeJong, then coaxed a routine bouncer to second base from Tommy Edman.
The problem was first baseman Trey Mancini took a couple steps toward the ball, rather than getting over to first base. Mancini then had to race to the bag, turned quickly and tried to catch the ball with his bare hand, but dropped it. Stroman was standing nearby and appeared to let out a burst of frustration.
The play was originally scored a hit, but later correctly changed to an E3, which was significant considering Stroman is the National League's ERA leader. The mishap allowed the Cardinals to score their first run, then Brendan Donovan followed with an RBI single to make it 4-3.
"It's not the first instance lately where I've sped up plays that don't really need to be sped up," Mancini said, according to the Chicago Tribune. "Game's 100% on me. I'm sorry to my teammates and all the fans."
This wasn't all Mancini's fault. Stroman did load the bases and gave up 8 singles. Mancini also delivered the biggest hit of the first inning, a 2-run double. But Mancini has had plenty of misadventures in the field this season and is better suited to being the DH.
Last week Ross talked about Mike Tauchman batting in the leadoff spot as a case of, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Maybe Ross should take his own advice, because with left-hander Matthew Liberatore on the mound for the Cardinals, left-handed hitters Tauchman and Cody Bellinger both started out on the bench.
But Liberatore was pulled in the top of the third inning, and during the next two at-bats, Ross pinch-hit Bellinger for Mancini, then Tauchman for DH Miguel Amaya.
The offensive story was a little strange. For the first time in four London MLB games, no home runs were hit. While St. Louis collected 12 hits, only one went for extra bases. That was a double by Willson Contreras, who went 4-for-4.
The Cubs hit 4 doubles, but finished with just 7 hits and were quiet against the Cardinals bullpen until Nick Madrigal led off the ninth with a double off the wall and scored the final run on a Nico Hoerner sac fly. St. Louis batters had the five hardest hits of Sunday's game, according to Statcast.
Thanks to the scoring change, Stroman was charged with 3 earned runs instead of 6, leaving his season ERA at 2.47. He said he expects to be able to make his next start.
After the long trip home, the Cubs (37-39) have just one day off before starting a six-game home stand Tuesday against the Phillies. Within three days, the Cubs will go from a 9 a.m. start Chicago time in London to 7 p.m. at Wrigley Field.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports