Cubs rally falls short in loss to Marlins |
MIAMI - You knew at some point during the 2023 MLB season that the Chicago Cubs (14-12) would have to pry into their starting pitch depth, as injuries do happen. You have seen that since Jameson Taillon went down as Javier Assad made a start last week, and Caleb Kilian made the start against the Miami Marlins (15-13) at Loan Depot Park.
The former top pitching prospect in the Cubs system made his major league debut last season and had less than stellar results. Not only that, but for whatever reason, Kilian struggled to throw strikes in the MLB, which trickled down to the second half of the Minor League season. Hoping his second crack on the Major League roster would be better, Kilian continues to prove that he is not ready for the big stage, and now you need to wonder if his confidence is entirely shot. Kilian couldn't even make it out of the fourth inning in this one and was charged with seven earned runs on 10 hits. Credit the Cubs bullpen for keeping Miami scoreless the rest of the way, but that didn't matter as the Cubs comeback effort fell short at the end, 7-6. Opposing Kilian was Edward Cabrerra as he entered the game as the major league leader in walks allowed. The command issues continued to be a problem for the hard-throwing right-hander as he walked five in five innings. However, he overcame that by punching out 12 Cubs while the early offensive onslaught gave him all the support he needed. Cabrerra overcame a shaky start, with Nico Hoerner leading off the game with a single, followed by a Dansby Swanson walk. Cabrera worked around that jam by getting Seiya Suzuki to ground into his third double play of the series as the Cubs went scoreless after one. Despite the overall struggles from Kilian, and there were many of them, most of the damage came in the first inning. Jazz Chisholm opened the inning for Miami with one of his three hits, with Luis Arraez adding another single shortly after. Kilian then hit Yuli Gurriel as the Marlins loaded the bases with one out. Kilian was on the verge of picking up a massive strikeout against Bryan De La Cruz and was on the verge of working out of the jam. Unfortunately, Jesus Sanchez prevented that from happening as his RBI double put the Marlins in front for good, 2-0. That double was followed by another walk, another hit by a pitch, and a Jean Segura single as the Marlins were off and running 4-0. Chisholm brought home the final run for the Marlins in that inning as another hit-by-a pitch from Kilian capped off a terrible inning command-wise. Knowing that it would come down to the Cubs offense for them to grab a win, Patrick Wisdom did his part and connected for a two-run shot in the second to make things 5-2. Patrick Wisdom - Chicago Cubs (10) pic.twitter.com/UrLFeTWcsT
Despite his recent slump at the plate, Wisdom still leads the Cubs in homers (10) and RBIs (20) as his excellent start to the season continues. With Kilian working out of a tight spot in the bottom of the second, patience was the key to the Cubs in the third as they had a golden opportunity to pull closer. Hoerner started things with a walk, while Swanson and Ian Happ added walks to load the bases with no outs. This was one of the golden opportunities the Cubs had to pull even, but Cabrera responded with a pair of strikeouts before getting out of the inning unharmed. Clearly, his escape maneuver put some life back into the Marlins, and following a two-out double from Garrett Hampson and another Chisholm single, the lead grew back to 6-2. Miami continued to build on their lead in the fourth, with Sanchez connecting for his third RBI of the day to push the lead to 7-2. That was the end of the road for Kilian, who was lifted in favor of Jeremiah Estrada and the rest of the Cubs pen. To their credit, the Cub's pen was phenomenal as they held the Marlins scoreless across the final four frames, hoping the offense would eventually get things going. In the sixth inning, the Cubs got back on the board with Cody Bellinger taking Andrew Nardi deep to pull Chicago within 7-3. Cody Bellinger - Chicago Cubs (6) pic.twitter.com/FCxDIFv004
Chicago had another excellent opportunity to draw closer. Trey Mancini, Eric Hosmer, and Wisdom added singles shortly after to load the bases, only to add an additional run to make things 7-4. With Estrada giving the Cubs a scoreless relief outing and handing things over to Julian Merryweather and Adbert Alzolay, who also kept the Marlins offense in check, Chicago still had a chance to complete the comeback and were hoping to get that done in the later innings. Steven Okert took over in the eighth inning for the Marlins and immediately found himself in serious trouble. Not only did he walk Bellinger to start the inning, but walks to Mancini and Wisdom followed that as the Cubs had the bases loaded with one out. Looking for a massive hit to pull even or take the lead potentially, Yan Gomes and Hoerner put the ball in play, but Chicago only managed to score on a pair of fielder's choices plays as they were within 7-6 late. After Alzolay tossed a scoreless eighth, the Cubs were down to their final three outs, as it was now or never for the offense. Suzuki did his part by putting the tying run on base with a one-out single and had the Cubs offense in business. Unfortunately, Suzuki was unable to score as Tanner Scott recovered nicely and struck out the final two hitters to close things out and gave Miami a hard-fought 7-6 win. The Cubs had six hits in the game, with Wisdom and Hoerner leading the way with two. This series ends on Sunday as the Cubs are sending Justin Steele to the mound, hoping to avoid a sweep.
