The Cubs are bad and you should feel bad.
Top Play (WPA): Are you ready for this? Chris Coghlan walked leading off the fourth inning (.043). The end. This game was miserable cacophony, a metaphorical gnashing of teeth. While the first two games in the series were close, and in fact one swing at the end of the game could’ve won either of them for the Cubs, the ugly blowout loss today to the Cardinals—completing their sweep and leaving them a mere 9.5 games back in the NL Central—symbolized how the three-game series truly felt. Bad. Just bad.
The Cubs had their ace on the mound going against a pitcher that they’ve historically handled well, in a situation where it felt as close to ‘must-win’ as they get when you’re ahead in the division by double-digits. To lose in the manner that they did is, well, kind of embarrassing. But perspective is key; had this series come against the Milwaukee Brewers or Colorado Rockies, few would care. The fact that it was the Cardinals? Even with the lead at 9.5 games, it feels worse than it really is.
Bottom Play (WPA): Jake Arrieta struggled early on with his pitch count, tossing nearly 40 in the first two innings combined. He hadn’t allowed any runs heading into the fifth inning, but Michael Wacha had stymied the Cubs as well. That’s when the game turned for the worse. Arrieta got Wacha to ground out leading off the inning, but he proceeded to load the bases by walking Matt Carpenter, giving up a single to the suddenly rejuvenated juggernaut of Aledmys Diaz, and walking Matt Adams.
That brought up Stephen Piscotty, who had been struggling in the month of June—posting a .236/.344/.418 slash line. Piscotty obliged Arrieta by hitting a double-play ball, but second baseman Ben Zobrist could only get one out as his throw to first base got past Anthony Rizzo (-.114). Two runs would score on the error and the Cards would never look back from there in the 7-2 victory.
Key Moment: Catcher Miguel Montero had to leave in the sixth inning with a leg injury after a play at the plate in which Brandon Moss scored the third Cardinals run of the game. The positive spin is that rookie Willson Contreras got into the game, and he was able to take an at-bat against Wacha in the bottom of the seventh inning. With a runner on second and a 2-2 count, Contreras crushed his second big league home run to left-center field—which you can view here.
It’s a tough silver lining in a game that otherwise stunk like horse poo, but it’s fun to see yet another Cubs prospect come up and hit.
Trend to Watch: Kris Bryant has had some poor luck at the plate lately. He had several hard hit balls in yesterday’s game that went right at the Cardinals’ third baseman for outs, and in general has performed well but isn’t getting the best results. Despite hitting two home runs and getting on base at a .353 clip, Bryant is hitting just .154 with a .118 BABIP over his last eight games. Considering that he still has an OPS of .814 during that stretch, there isn’t much to be concerned about here. But it’s still interesting to keep an eye on.
Coming Next: Now that the nightmare series against the Cardinals is over, the Cubs will take their 47-23 record and their talents to South Beach to begin a series against the 38-34 Miami Marlins. Tomorrow’s game will feature Jon Lester (2.06 ERA/2.98 FIP/3.71 DRA) against Marlins left-hander Wei-Yin Chen (5.22/4.75/4.26). Chen is coming off his shortest outing of the year, tossing just 2.1 innings against the Colorado Rockies and allowing six earned runs. Over his last three starts, he has a 9.88 ERA in 13.2 innings and opposing batters are hitting .359/.397/.828. The game starts a 6:10pm CST and will air on Comcast Sports Net Chicago and MLB Network.
Lead photo courtesy Patrick Gorski—USA Today Sports