What You Need To Know: If they allowed titles for these things, this one would be “Big Dumb Sex,” for all of you hardcore Soundgarden lovers out there. It took forever, most of the game was dumb, but in the end sex is sex and a win is a win and the Cubs pulled one out (phrasing). This was real getaway day fodder, where Arizona was mostly focused on getting to the airport for the last four innings and it seemed the biggest concern for the Cubs was not using any reliever that’s considered important. But it results in an over .500 homestand, salvages a series split, and sends the Cubs off to bury the Cardinals in St. Louis once and for all. And when it comes with a back-to-back set of homers to win it off a pretty good closer, that’s a moment you know you’ll look back on when annotating the season.
Next Level: Boy where to start with this one? It was another Chatwood Special, though they’re not even really special anymore, are they? He couldn’t finish five, walked six, and yet danced and danced around all the eels, jellyfish, and sharks that he himself threw in the pool (and yes, I realize none of these creatures can live in a pool but just give me some runway here, all right?). He got a big double play, and he got a nifty play from David “That’s How Bote Does It” Bote for another escape. It was only after he was pulled that the roof caved in, so let’s start there.
With the Cubs struggling to get innings from anyone, and Chatwood’s ability to merengue his way out of the messes he creates, you could argue that he deserved more leash in the fifth. Lefties do hit him hard, so you can understand not letting him see Daniel Descalso in a spot that could turn the game for a third time. I think we’ll all grant Joe that. And it’s not Joe’s fault that Duensing walked Descalso, setting him up to be immediately pile-drived by Nick Ahmed.
But it is, is the thing. That’s a big spot. The game might hinge on what happens in that inning, and Duensing is as likely to let something happen as anyone. And if he doesn’t get Descalso, then he’s chum for any righty behind him, as he’s been all season, in this case Ahmed. Justin Wilson didn’t pitch yesterday, and he’s not shark-enticement against righties. Randy Rosario is at least the better Duensing. The Cubs were already behind of course, but I don’t know where this rule that you can’t use your important relievers in a high-leverage spot when trailing comes from, but it needs to be put in a box marked “To Timbuktu.”
This comes after Lester’s curious stay of execution for one batter in the seventh yesterday, which was only the D-Backs cleanup hitter and one of two-and-a-half good hitters they have. Needless to say, I’m not a fan of Maddon’s pen handling lately.
But in the interest of fairness, there’s a reason that the Cubs come back from these kinds of things regularly, why they stay focused on a day it would have been easy to simply stop caring, why they have an atmosphere around the team that remains fun and light no matter what’s going on the field and thus creates belief. Maddon’s a large part of that. Wins like this wouldn’t come as regularly without him, and even the most curmudgeonly, sheet-pounding despot would have to concede that. So you take it all and you leave the rest.
That said, it’s not like the Cubs really had to do much until the ninth. Their run in the second was due to great instincts from Willson Contreras, running on the pitch and able to score from first on a single. That doesn’t happen if Steven Souza The Younger realizes he’s running on the pitch and becomes more concerned with keeping him at third than preserving the double play. The Cubs clawed two runs back in the fifth with three singles that apologized for existing before landing, and an error from Descalso at third on what should have been an inning-ending double play. Schwarber scored in the sixth on a wild pitch that struck out Báez and should have ended the inning but made a run for the backstop instead. Maybe it’s harsh, so we’ll say the D-Backs certainly laid enough breadcrumbs for their demise that the Cubs could easily find the lair.
Oh, and then this. Check out the pitch Ben Zobrist walked on to start the 9th inning rally. #6 here:
I mean, it’s a good take, and it’s borderline I guess, but that’s a strike. Mike Estabrook’s zone was an amorphous being you see when you wake up in the middle of the night. Hell, look what pissed off Rizzo so much in the deciding AB that he figured he might as well just end it on the next pitch:
#1 was a strike.
Anyway, I had a longer thing about framing planned for this because there was an egregious miss in the eighth too before Contreras got hit, but I’ll leave that for another time because this is getting long.
Bote’s swing on the tying homer was so pretty. Just short and quick like it was merely a chip in golf. That’s all it needed. He’s been a godsend for sure, whatever that means for his future career and use.
Not only is this a win that can spring a team, but it sends a small dagger to a team like Milwaukee who could have been watching. For eight innings they thought they were getting a half-game, back and then like a shot they’re getting that and another half taken away. It can make a team think they’re just not destined to catch the one in front of them.
Because they’re not.
Top WPA Play: It’s actually Bote’s homer that tied it in the 9th with two out. So let’s use this because it’s fun (+.472):
Bottom WPA Play: Ahmed’s homer in the 5th off Duensing, which no one except everyone saw coming (-.417).
Onwards…
Lead photo courtesy @Cubs