Cubs bats wake up late, but they lose in 10 innings to finish 1-5 homestand
This was a really long, uneven, unsuccessful weekend at Wrigley Field for the Cubs.
Two games featured more than eight hours of rain delays. Saturday's contest ended just short of midnight, while Sunday's game, originally scheduled for 1:20 p.m. went off at 6 p.m
Then the Cubs offense was stymied by a pair of Cleveland starters. Over 18 innings, they managed just 1 run on 8 hits. Then suddenly in the ninth inning on Sunday, against one of the best closers in MLB, they erupted for 4 runs to tie the game.
The Cubs eventually lost to the Guardians 8-6 in 10 innings, closing out a disappointing 1-5 homestand. Starting pitcher Jameson Taillon had another tough outing, but by the end of the day, the Cubs were wishing they had a couple of defensive miscues to do over again.
"We kicked ourselves in the foot a lot early on," manager David Ross said. "Couldn't close it out, but really good character there from the offense at the end. That's one of the better closers in the game."
The Cubs offense seemed to get lost under the tarp during the extended rain delays. They were shut down completely by Cleveland's Tanner Bibee on Saturday, then Aaron Civale on Sunday.
But just when this one looked like a wrap, Christopher Morel homered in the eighth and the Cubs delivered the 4-run comeback in the ninth inning off Emmanuel Clase.
Trailing 6-2, Trey Mancini dropped an RBI single into right field, then Mike Tauchman and Nico Hoerner reached on infield hits, loading the bases with one out. Morel followed with a 2-run single up the middle, then Cody Bellinger's sacrifice fly brought home Hoerner with the tying run.
What's more, the Cubs did something they rarely do - hit elite velocity. Mancini's single was against an 99-mile-per-hour Clase cutter. Morel hit a pitch that came in at 100 and Bellinger 101.
"Guys were all over the fastball," Ross said, acknowledging Statcast calls the pitch a cutter. "Clase's got an elite fastball, cutter. Really good at-bats, Mancini there at the end. I think at times we can struggle a little bit with the guys that can change speeds and mix and cut it and sink it and spin it and fastball counts and do little things like that. Those guys can be really difficult to hit at times."
Morel's home run in the eighth was his 15th of the season, moving him past Patrick Wisdom for the team lead.
In the top of the 10th against Adbert Alzolay, Cleveland's Amed Rosario led off with an infield hit and after he stole second, Josh Naylor grounded a 2-run single up the middle. The Cubs went down in order against Guardians left-hander Sam Hentges to finish off the losing homestand.
The Cubs will move straight into a four-game series at Milwaukee, followed by three in New York against the Yankees, so this was no time for a losing streak.
Taillon's ERA in both the first and second innings this season was 7.62, so things looked promising when he put up two zeros to start the game. In the third inning, though, leadoff hitter Andres Gimenez drilled a no-doubt 2-run homer to right.
Taillon left after 5 innings, giving up 7 hits and 5 earned runs, to go with 6 strikeouts. He could have used some help from the defense. Naylor led off the fourth with a grounder to Morel, making his first start of the season at third base. Morel hesitated, then threw wide of his target. The play was ruled a hit, but probably should have been an error and unearned run when Naylor eventually scored.
Jared Young added a gaffe at first base when he fielded a slow chopper and tried to make a difficult force play at second instead of the easy out at first. Young's errant throw went for an error, when stepping on first would have saved a run.
"I don't think I've ever grinded like this at the big league level to this extent," Taillon said. "I think the frustrating thing for me is just the fact that I feel really good. My stuff isn't the problem. It just comes down to really executing at the right time in the biggest situations of the game."
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