Suzuki's Cubbie Occurrence: Eighth-inning flub costs Cubs a win they needed
Maybe the most important fact for Cubs fans to remember right now is they made the playoffs after Brant Brown's infamous game-ending dropped fly ball at Milwaukee during the final week of the 1998 season.
In yet another example of “no one is immune to Cubbie Occurrences,” the Cubs squandered a 6-0 lead in Atlanta on Tuesday, with the winning runs crossing the plate in the eighth inning on a fairly routine fly ball that sailed past Seiya Suzuki's glove for an error.
After the painful 7-6 loss to the Braves, the Cubs still have control of the third wild-card slot, since Miami was rained out. Arizona and Cincinnati both won.
Suzuki took questions about the play, using his translator Toy Matsushita, starting with whether he lost the ball in the lights.
“That did contribute to that play happening, but ever since I was playing in Japan, you do have to take that into consideration whenever you go out there in right field,” Suzuki said. “If I do say that, then that's an excuse, so I'm not going to say that.”
Atlanta's Sean Murphy hit the ball into right-center field and Suzuki seemed confident as he held his right arm out to tell center fielder Cody Bellinger he would make the catch.
“I was actually seeing it pretty well until the very last second,” Suzuki said. “I honestly thought it went into my glove. So it was just that split-second where it blurred my vision.”
The two runners that scored both reached on walks by Drew Smyly. The left-hander also uncorked a pair of wild pitches in he eighth inning, but thought he was out of the inning when Murphy hit the ball.
“It happens to every single one of us,” Smyly said. “We've all made errors. All we can do is turn the page and come back tomorrow. We have five more games, Seiya's been one of the best hitters in the league this whole month. He's been carrying the team. We all support him and have his back.”
Justin Steele sailed through the first 5 innings, allowing 3 hits and no runs. In the sixth, the Braves began to make some contact. Kevin Pillar started it with a home run, then doubles by Matt Olson and Marcel Ozuna brought in 3 runs.
Jose Cuas came in and limited the damage, but in the seventh inning Ronald Acuna Jr. delivered an opposite-field home run off Javier Assad to make it 6-5.
Early in the game, it looked like the Cubs were ready to perform well under pressure. Yan Gomes and Miles Mastrobuoni delivered a pair of two-out RBI singles in the second inning, then Suzuki added a 2-run triple in the third.
But the Cubs also squandered some chances to build the lead. For example, Suzuki's triple happened with one out, but he didn't score. The Cubs outhit the Braves 13-8, but left 9 runners on base.
Dansby Swanson went 0-for-4 with a run scored in his first game back in Atlanta after signing with the Cubs as a free agent.
“This team's been really resilient with all the things that have been thrown at them all year,” manager David Ross said. “This team's had their back against the wall all year and answered the bell.”
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