Top Play (WPA): Unfortunately for the Cubs, the top play in this game was of the walk-off variety. To catch you up, the Cubs had carried a 1-0 lead up until Justin Grimm had an implosion in the bottom of the seventh, which turned the score around to 5-1. The Cubs rallied to tie it in the top of the eighth, which is where we stood with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
But Erik Kratz took a five-pitch walk from Hector Rondon, which brought up Cody Asche. Rondon must have thought he could sneak a 96-mph fastball right by Asche, but he was incorrect. Asche drilled the first pitch out into the right-field seats for a game-ending, two-run homer (.444).
Joe Maddon challenged the play, although it clearly appeared as though Bryant was out. There was some speculation that Kratz didn’t allow Bryant a lane to score, but the call stood and Bryant was out. Whether or not Kratz did block Bryant from getting to the plate is debatable, but from my perspective a catcher needs to do something pretty egregious to have that rule be enforced. The call is used pretty rarely by umpires, which is a shame. I don’t care for the rule in general, but if it’s in the rule book you might as well call it. Otherwise, you create a situation (like the one we’re in) where no one even understands what the purpose of the rule is anyway. Soapbox rant complete.
Key Moment: That treacherous bottom of the seventh inning strikes again. After Grimm walked in the go-ahead run, Joe Maddon (finally) went back to the bullpen and brought in Zac Rosscup to face Cesar Hernandez. It only took one pitch from Rosscup to Hernandez, who lined a double into the gap in left field. It drove in all three baserunners and broke the score open, making it 5-1 in favor of the Phillies at that point.
There has to be real concern about the Cubs bullpen right now. Rondon, despite the bad ninth inning, has been the only reliable reliever of late. Since June 7th (prior to the start of this game), he had a line of 39 2/3 innings pitched, 42 strikeouts to just 7 walks, and a 0.45 ERA. Pedro Strop is probably the most trustworthy of the rest of the bullpen, but it’s still always a worry that he might walk people. He has 28 walks in his 60 innings this season, which is masked well by the fact that he doesn’t give up many hits (just 35 so far).
Grimm, Rosscup, Travis Wood, and Clayton Richard have all been hit and miss lately. The bullpen is currently my biggest concern for the Cubs heading toward the playoffs.
Trend to Watch: Dingers! Kyle Schwarber hit his 16th homer to kick off the scoring, a solo-shot in the third inning that made it 1-0 in favor of the Cubs. It’s his third in the last two days, and overall 10 of his last 16 hits have left the ballpark.
Schwarber has struggled lately, hitting .205/.306/.589 in his last 85 plate appearances (prior to the game, in which he hit the aforementioned home run and took a walk). The power is outrageous, though, as he now has 16 big-flies in the major leagues to go along with the 16 that he hit between Double-A and Triple-A this season. That’s 32 total homers in just over 500 plate appearances for a 22-year-old who spent a big portion of his first full professional season learning the art of catching. The kid is impressive.
Coming Next: The Cubs (82-59) finish up their four-game series with the Phillies (55-88) with a 12:35 pm game, featuring Dan Haren (3.73 ERA/4.83 FIP/4.49 DRA) taking the mound against Aaron Harang (5.02/4.73/4.34), who has a 7.79 ERA in his last 14 starts after posting a 2.02 ERA in his first 11. It’s a decent chance for the Cubs to take three out of four in a series the Phillies have no business splitting before they head over to Pittsburgh for their huge four-game set with the Pirates starting Tuesday.
Lead photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports