Last Game: Cubs 4, Brewers 2

Up Next: Cubs (27-20) @ Brewers (20-23) 1:10 CST

Game Recap

It looked like more of the same: A DOA offense wasting a quality start for the third time in four days.

But then, the 9th inning happened.

The only thing about the first eight innings that bears mentioning was the greatness of Kyle Hendricks. The only blemish over his 7.2 innings of work was the two-run homer by Ryan Braun. With an assist from Jason Adam, who struck out Christian Yelich with a man on for the final out in the 8th, Hendricks kept the Cubs within striking distance despite their slumbering offense.

Even the 9th started out on a low note. Kyle Schwarber, down two strikes to Brewers super closer Josh Hader, attempted a surprise bunt to try an beat the shift. Knowing any at bat that reaches two strikes against Hader is practically over, it wasn’t a bad idea. Unfortunately, Schwarber’s bunt popped foul for a strikeout, leaving the Cubs with just two outs to score two runs.

The struggling Javier Baez came to the plate next. It wasn’t promising. Baez perhaps took a cue from Schwarber. He didn’t try to do too much. Just get on base, and hope someone can pop one over the fence later in the inning. Baez punched one the other way. It wasn’t hard. Baez even hesitated leaving the box because it looked like a catchable ball by the first baseman off the bat. But thankfully, the Brewers first baseman was Dan Vogelbach, not a player known for his hops. The ball would end up floating just over Vogelbach’s leaping effort and into right field.

Instead of allowing Victor Caratini to face Josh Hader from the right side of the plate, David Ross called upon Anthony Rizzo off the bench. An interesting decision to be sure, but the Cubs best chance against Hader was a homer, something Caratini was unlikely to do but something Rizzo had done against Hader back in 2018. The hoped for long ball didn’t happen, but Rizzo did end up replicating what was the likely positive outcome from Vic: a soft single.

This put the tying run on 1st in the form of pinch runner Billy Hamilton. An extra base hit would tie the game. The odds were still not in the Cubs favor however as due up was another lefty, Jason Heyward, followed by recent acquisition Idemaro Vargas. Despite Heyward’s great season, he had not homered off a lefty all season, and besides no lefty against Josh Hader can be considered a good matchup. And despite what little success Vargas had at the MLB level had come from the right side, no unproven righty can be considered a good matchup against Josh Hader. But small odds are not zero odds…

Top Performers

I had written a few nice paragraphs about Craig Kimbrel here, but WordPress ate it, because in one of the original videos I linked above, there was a special character that I forgot to remove. Now, you’ll just have to imagine the gold I spun for you as I do not have time to recreate it this morning.

Injuries, Updates, and Trends

• I also gave a scouting report on the deparated Pedro Martinez
• And I complained about the Cubs using South Bend as a AAA team instead of utilizing a portion of their player pool to develop lower level prospects.
• Which corresponded to the scouting report on the freshly-returned-from-TJS Duncan Robinson.
• Now lost forever…
• I am sad.