Cubs drop series finale despite quality start by Stroman |
CHICAGO - The first two games of the Chicago Cubs (6-5) series with the Seattle Mariners (5-8) may go down as some of the more exciting games at Wrigley Field in quite a while. Not only did the Cubs walk off the Mariners on Monday with Nico Hoerner's first career walk-off hit, but they rallied from a 7-0 deficit on Tuesday to come away with a 14-9 victory.
Looking to close out the homestand with a sweep and a 5-1 overall record, the Cubs turned to their ace Marcus Stroman who was looking to continue what he started. Through two starts, Stroman has been brilliant as he has given the Cubs a pair of shutout outings covering 12 innings in that span. That streak ended on Wednesday, but once again, Stroman pitched well enough to win. The right-hander gave the Cubs six more innings of two-run ball as his season ERA sits at 1.00. He walked a season-low two batters and struck out six as he continued to prove his worth at the top of the rotation. The problem was that Seattle starter Logan Gilbert was slightly better, as he allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings while striking out seven. Seattle would go on and tack on some late-game offense as they avoided the sweep with the 5-2 win. A big reason for the Cubs success has not only been scoring early, but having a top-of-the-line-up that makes things happen. Even with Dansby Swanson out with minor soreness, it was the top of the order making things happen again as Nico Hoerner and Nick Madrigal led things off with a pair of first-inning singles. Following an Ian Happ grounder that advanced both runners, Cody Bellinger put the Cubs in front 1-0 with a sacrifice fly. Bellinger not only provided all the offense for the Cubs, but they were held scoreless from this point on up until the final inning. Although the Cubs struggled to get much done on offense, Stroman continued to work his magic and got through the first two innings to extend his scoreless innings streak to 14 to begin the season. He saw that streak end in the third when JP Crawford led the inning off with a double and would come around to score on the Eugenio Suarez single three batters later. Following the second walk of the inning to load the bases, the Mariners grabbed the lead for good with Teoscar Hernandez ripping an RBI single to center field to make things 2-1. Things could have been worse, but Stroman buckled down to end the frame without further damage. Not only were those the only runs allowed off of Stroman that day, but following the Hernandez single, Stroman closed out his outing by retiring the final 11 Mariners that he faced and kept the Cubs in the game. As mentioned earlier, Gilbert was on top of his game just as much as Stroman and retired 12 straight at one point and 15 of 16, with Miles Mastrobuoni picking up a single as the only batter to reach in a five-inning stretch. With Stroman out of the game after 98 pitches, the most he has thrown as a Cub, it was up to the pen to keep things close with Brad Boxberger called on to pitch the seventh. Boxberger got off to a good start by striking out Kolton Wong to start the inning, but walked Crawford ahead of a Julio Rodriguez single to put him in a jam. That proved costly as Ty France added to the Mariners lead with an RBI single to make things 3-1. Seattle continued to add on in the eighth and played long ball off of Julian Merryweather as Hernandez, and Jarred Kelenic connected for back-to-back homers to begin the frame and pushed the lead to 5-1. Kelenic watched his homer fly 482 feet, the longest homer in the Stat Cast Era at Wrigley Field. He also homered in all three games of the series and would love to play in Chicago more often. Trailing by four and down to their final three outs, the Cubs had some work to do and would have to get it done off of Paul Sewald. Things didn't look good early, with Happ striking out to lead things off, only to see Bellinger get a run back for the Cubs with a long solo shot to right. That would be it for the Cubs offensively, as Sewald retired Trey Mancini and Eric Hosmer to end the game and avoided the sweep. The Cubs had five hits in the game, with Bellinger accounting for two of them with both RBIs. Hoerner, Madrigal, and Miles Mastrobuoni grabbed the other three. The next 13 days will be a massive test for this team, as 10 are against the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. The Cubs will be off on Thursday before kicking off a six-game West Coast trip with the Dodgers on Friday.
