Hard-hit balls don't go Cubs' way as Arizona snaps 4-game win streak
In the new-age baseball world where OPS, BABIP, WAR and xwOBA is all the rage, the Cubs' bats were absolutely smoking Thursday at Wrigley Field.
BAM! There goes a 101.8-mph rocket off the bat of Cody Bellinger.
BOOM! There's a 101.2-mph sizzler from Dansby Swanson
CRACK! There's a towering 102.4-mph blast from Christopher Morel.
ZOOM! Bellinger with a 107-mph liner to right.
Normally, this would mean 3 or 4 hits - and perhaps a couple of home runs.
But not on this night.
Instead, the Cubs were no-hit until Seiya Suzuki's one-out triple in the fifth inning, and David Ross' squad saw its four-game winning streak snapped with a 6-2 loss to Arizona.
"In the first two innings we would have had 3 home runs if the wind was blowing the same as yesterday," said Nico Hoerner, referring to the Cubs' 8-2 victory over San Francisco on Wednesday. "Lot of hard-hit balls ... that if they land the game's in a different spot. But it didn't work out."
Despite trailing 6-1 entering the ninth, the Cubs tried to mount a comeback with singles by Hoerner, Bellinger and Swanson. Seiya Suzuki then smoked a grounder to third that had a 101.1-mph exit velocity, but Emmanuel Rivera gloved it and threw to first to end the game.
"Tonight was a weird one, right?" Ross said. "We hit some balls really hard; they just all went to the track. None of ours really got any spin on it or wind changed directions or who knows in this ballpark sometimes.
"But we had decent at-bats. It was either right at somebody or when we had soft contact it was a double play."
Cubs starter Javier Assad (3-3) gave up 3 runs on 7 hits in 5⅓ innings. All 3 runs scored on homers, meaning 8 of the last 12 runs Assad has yielded have come on HRs.
Still, Assad has more than impressed since becoming a starter on August 5, with a 2.34 ERA in 42⅓ IP. Assad was in a relief role before that, and also went 2-2 with a 3.11 ERA in 8 starts at the end of last season.
"Consistency," Ross said on what he likes most about Assad. "You saw a guy who was very confident and (had) a belief in himself filling that starter role in the second half (in 2022). ...
"He's played a lot of different roles. Watched him in the WBC (World Baseball Classic) and the confidence he probably gained from that in some intense environments."
Assad and newcomer Jordan Wicks (3-0, 2.16 ERA) are two big reasons the Cubs (76-65 and 35-14 since July 18) are thriving without the injured Marcus Stroman.
"Organizational depth has always been a priority," Ross said. "That's why we talk in spring training about how many guys need to affect our team for us to get to where we want to go. To win a World Series it takes more than the 26 (on the initial roster)."
Tommy Pham hit a pair of home runs for the Diamondbacks, the second off Keegan Thompson in the eighth inning to make it 5-1. Ketel Marte's 2-run HR in the third made it 3-1.
Ryne Nelson, Arizona's starting pitcher, had a 7.60 ERA in his last seven starts, with hitters batting .348 and smashing 11 home runs. The Twins and Padres each scored 6 runs in 3 innings in his last two starts.
The Cubs, however, managed 2 hits and walked twice in Nelson's 5⅔ innings.