Cubs falls in extras against D-backs |
CHICAGO - The Chicago Cubs (76-67) picked a horrible time to have their offense go into hibernation as their series with the Arizona Diamondbacks (75-68) continued on Saturday. With two losses on the week with their offense doing next to nothing in either of those games, the Cubs turned to their ace Justin Steele as he took on Merrill Kelly.
Looking to deliver another quality performance, Steele did what Steele does as the Cubs ace notched his 20th quality start of the season. With his seven innings of one-run six, strikeout baseball, Steele further solidified his case to be the NL Cy Young winner, as he now has an MLB-low 2.49 ERA. Steele wasn't the problem, and as a matter of fact, the pitching hasn't been an issue on this entire homestand. Instead, it has been the offense that has suddenly hibernated. The Cubs have not only found themselves falling further behind the Brewers, but have seen their lead over the final Wild Card teams quickly diminish. The offense was an issue for the Cubs again on Saturday as Kelly went toe-toe with Steele for 5 2/3, allowing just one run. He struggled with his command, but managed to limit the damage as this game headed to extras for a winner to be crowned. Unfortunately for the Cubs, they were on the short end of the stick yet again as the Diamondbacks picked up the 3-2 10-inning win and are now just one game behind the Cubs in the standings. Anytime Steele is on the mound, you know the Cubs have a great shot at winning, even if he doesn't have his best stuff. Steele was sharp right from the start, but still could have been better, as neither offense could do much of anything. Even with the Cubs picking up a pair of one-out walks from Seiya Suzuki and Jeimer Candelario in the second, no runs would come across as the game remained 0-0. With Steele working around a leadoff double to begin the third, the momentum was finally on the Cubs side as they went to work against Kelly in the bottom half of the inning. Nico Hoerner started things off with a one-out bunt single, but with two outs, he was in danger of not scoring. That was until Cody Bellinger came through again as his RBI single gave the Cubs their first and only lead of the weekend, 1-0. Holding that 1-0 lead in the fifth, Steele started to run into trouble as Corbin Carroll and Emmanuel Rivera started things with a pair of singles to open the inning. One batter later, Gabriel Moreno came through with an RBI groundout, and just like that, this game was tied 1-1. That would be it for the Diamondbacks offense off of Steele as we went on to retire the final eight hitters he faced to close out another strong outing. Despite his command issues, Kelly did a great job limiting the Cubs chances, but once the sixth inning rolled around, you could see him starting to tire. Ian Happ started the bottom half of the sixth with a leadoff single before advancing to second on Dansby Swanson's single two batters later. After Candelario worked a walk to load the bases, Kelly saw his day end as he was removed in favor of Ryan Thompson, who got Yan Gomes to fly out and ended a huge scoring chance for the Cubs. The bullpens have been the turning points in this series as the Diamondbacks have struggled all year in relief, but yet have come to play in this series. Looking to keep things tied in the ninth, David Ross went back to Adbert Alzolay as he needed to get some innings under his belt. Alzolay was sharp early, retiring the first two hitters he faced, but things quickly started to come undone. A pair of walks to Pavin Smith and Jace Peterson didn't help, nor did a single to Carroll, as Arizona had the bases loaded with two outs. As he has done so many times this season, Alzolay didn't crack under the pressure and escaped that jam without any damage, putting the momentum back in the hands of the offense. What they did with that momentum would be on them, but with Gomes singling with one out in the ninth, the winning run was on base, or was it? Looking to stretch his single into a double, Gomes was thrown out at second for the second out, which was the turning point in the game. His single was followed by a Nick Madrigal double, which would have scored Gomes had he not tried to stretch things out while the inning-ending Mike Tauchman grounder sent the game into extra innings. On to work the 10th was Daniel Palencia, who has been pitching much better lately. Immediately after saying that, Palencia hit the second batter he faced to put runners on the corners with one out. He then uncorked a wild pitch to give Arizona the lead for good while the clutch Tommy Pham single put the Diamondbacks in front 3-1 with just three outs to go. Looking to lock things down was Paul Sewald, who came into face the heart of the Cubs order. After retiring the first two hitters he faced, Bellinger got him for an RBI single to pull the Cubs within 3-2. With Bellinger representing the tying run and Swanson at the plate, all it would take would be an extra-base hit, and Bellinger would score. Instead, Sewald made a perfect pitch and got Swanson to pop out to end the game, as the Cubs have now dropped three straight to Arizona.
