Rare bullpen failure as Cubs fall to Mariners
Sammy Sosa's return to Wrigley Field featured plenty of home runs, appropriately enough.
The visiting Seattle Mariners won this home-run race 4-2, however, and beat the Cubs 9-4 on Friday.
Seattle's Cal Raleigh went deep twice, giving him 29 for the season — the most by a catcher before the all-star break — and putting him on pace to hit 60. Move over, Slammin' Sammy, here comes the Big Dumper.
The Cubs started a battery of Seattle natives in pitcher Matthew Boyd and catcher Reese McGuire, so both are well-versed in the legend of Cal Raleigh.
“Yeah, all my friends, everyone's big fans of him,” McGuire said. “To be able to do it from both sides of the plate is very impressive.”
After an impeccable month, the Cubs bullpen finally hit a rough patch, giving up 7 earned runs. Caleb Thielbar saw a 17-game scoreless streak come to an end. He hadn't given up an earned run since April 30 in Pittsburgh until Raleigh's second home run in the seventh inning.
Ryan Pressly had a run of 16 consecutive scoreless outings end with a sixth-inning homer by Mitch Garver. Genesis Cabrera then gave up Garver's second homer, a 3-run shot in the ninth.
“Pressly and Thielbar have been on incredible runs here, pitched wonderfully,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “They're going to get to ball tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Boyd escaped serious injury when he somehow caught a screaming liner headed toward his face, hit by J.P. Crawford. Actually, Boyd turned a potential serious injury into a minor one. The catch ended the fifth inning, but Boyd left the game with a shoulder bruise.
“He caught the ball, obviously, but the left shoulder took the brunt of it,” Counsell said. “He had a pretty big bruise on his left shoulder … and it just stiffened up pretty quickly. So there was no way he could go back out there.”
This wouldn't be a terrible time for a quick trip to the injured list. Shota Imanaga was scheduled to throw for the Iowa Cubs on Friday and if all goes well, the expectation is he'll return to the Cubs rotation in roughly five days. After the game Boyd was not concerned about the state of his shoulder.
“I think more precautionary than anything,” Boyd said. “The training staff did a good job getting a lot of inflammation out of there and whatnot. So yeah, I don't foresee it being an issue.”
It was tough to tell what would have happened if Boyd hadn't caught the ball. He turned his head and stuck his glove out. Maybe the ball would have whizzed past his ear, but it's a good thing Boyd didn't have to find out.
“That was scary because (my) view was obviously going right for his head,” McGuire said. “When he got the glove on it, that was good to see.”
Reliever Porter Hodge should also return from the injured list soon. Cabrera, who have up 6 earned runs the past two days, appears to be the odd man out for the corresponding roster move.
Unless Boyd or another starter goes on the injured list, the Cubs will likely send either Ben Brown or Cade Horton back to Iowa to make room for Imanaga. Horton is set to start Saturday's contest.
McGuire and Ian Happ hit home runs Friday and, along with a Michael Busch 2-run single, put the Cubs ahead 4-2 at the end of five innings. Pete Crow-Armstrong had a rare rough day at the plate, with three foul pop-outs, plus a strikeout.
The Cubs are 11-2 this season in series openers at Wrigley Field.
· The Cubs home game on Sunday, July 6 against St. Louis has been switched to a 5:10 p.m. start for an ESPN national broadcast.