Professor schooled in loss to Braves |
CHICAGO - To be the best, you must beat the best, and the Chicago Cubs (56-54) welcomed the Atlanta Braves to Wrigley Field on Friday. No one will argue that the recent play by the Cubs has saved their season, as they are right back in the division race. Sporting a 12-3 record in their last 15 entering Friday, the Cubs are without question the hottest team in baseball.
However, the Atlanta Braves (70-37) are a different breed this season, as their mix of strong pitching and a relentless offense that has more than 200 homers already has put them with the best record in the game. Throw in the fact that Max Fried was returning from the IL and facing a Kyle Hendricks pitcher with an ERA north of 6.00 in his career against Atlanta, and things were not looking good for the Cubs. Despite Hendricks mowing through the Braves lineup the first time through the order, things unraveled quickly as the Atlanta offense showed how fast they can jump on you. The Braves would send 11 guys to the plate in the fourth inning, connect for six extra-base hits, and score seven times as they managed to take down the Cubs 8-0. Hendricks was charged will all seven of those earned runs as he continued to struggle against the Braves. He expected to be on a pitch count with this his first game back; Fried didn't need one as he was as good as he has been at any point this season. Following his six shutout innings, Fried now has an ERA of 1.69 as he used less than 75 pitches to get through six innings while striking out eight Cubs. Let's pick things up in the fourth inning, as this was the big inning for the Braves. With Hendricks matching Fired pitch for pitch through three and retiring all nine hitters he faced, you had to like how the game was unfolding. Then came the top of the fourth when the Braves offense was coming to bat for a second time and ready to make the adjustments needed to be successful. Ronald Acuna Jr opened the massive fourth inning with a single before advancing to third on the Ozzie Albies double as the Braves were threatening. The Albies double was followed by an Austin Riley grounder that brought home the game's first run and was considered the winning run. The Atlanta offense was far from finished in the fourth as MVP candidate Matt Olson pushed the lead to 2-0 with an RBI double. The next batter was another former Oakland A's star in All-Star Sean Murphy, who took Hendricks deep to make things 4-0. Marcell Ozuna continued to pound the ball off Hendricks as he got into a pitch later in the inning and went back-to-back with Murphy to stretch the Brave's lead to 5-0. At this point, you had to feel for Hendricks as he pitched so well early on, only to see this crumble quickly. The Braves offense deserves a ton of credit for that, as they showed everyone how fast they can flip the switch and turn the game around. On the verge of escaping without further damage, Orlando Arcia used a two-out double to extend the inning before coming home on the Micahel Harris single. The Acuna triple followed that single as the Braves scored seven times to open up a 7-0 lead. This would be the final inning Hendricks would work as Hayden Wesneski replaced him in the fifth. For the most part, Wesneski pitched well, giving the Cubs three innings of work and allowing just one solo homer late in the game. He is officially unavailable to pitch in Saturday's game. Looking to do anything off of Fried, Cody Bellinger provided the Cubs first hit of the game in the bottom of the fifth, but nothing came from it. That was followed by a mini two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth as Miguel Amaya and Nick Madrigal picked up singles to set the offense up on ly have Fried escape the jam and end his outing with the shutout still in play. The final run of the game for Atlanta came in the seventh when Riley uncorked a long blast against Waseneski to push their lead to 8-0. With Fried out of the game and the newly acquired Brad Hand entering in the seventh, the Cubs hoped this was their opportunity to do some damage. Bellinger picked up a one-out single for the Cub's final hit but was erased on the Yan Gomes shortly after. Atlanta would then put themselves in a position to score off Jose Cuas in the eighth as Murphy worked a leadoff walk before advancing to second on the Eddie Rosario single. Cuas managed to bounce back and ended the inning with a double play ball to get the Cubs out of the jam, but the offense couldn't get anything done late as they fell to the Braves 8-0 to open the series. Chicago Cubs' Tucker Barnhart experienced a role reversal after the catcher was sent to the mound in the 9th inning. pic.twitter.com/HKAUy2LHPO The Cubs had four hits in the loss, with Bellinger leading the way with two. Amaya and Madrigal picked up the rest of the hits in a quiet offensive day. With Marcus Stroman on the IL, Wesneski was expected to start Saturday but now look for Javier Assad to take the ball against Bailey Elder.
