Season Over: Cubs blanked by Reds |
CHICAGO - Sunday was a microcosm of the Chicago Cubs (83-79) season. Whether it be the injuries that piled up early in the season, an inconsistent offense that struggled to score runs, or losing a season series to a team like the Cincinnati Reds (77-85), 2024 was a struggle, to say the least.
Looking to close out the 2024 campaign on a high note, the Cubs took the field one more time in front of the Wrigley Field faithful, who had sweep on their minds. This was one of those series where runs were tough to come by, as the two teams combined to score just seven runs all weekend. The result was three straight shutouts over the weekend, two coming from the Cubs as they finally found a way to win a series against this team. As nice as a sweep would've been, the Cubs did what they had to do to end the season with a winning record as the Reds knocked off the Cubs 3-0 in 10 innings. Had the Cubs been in a position to either make the playoffs or already be in the playoffs, this would've been another Shota Imanaga start. Instead, the Cubs elected to go with Caleb Kilian, who was making his first MLB start of the season and just his second start since last July. Kilian will be a topic of conversation all offseason as the Cubs need to figure out the plan for him going forward. You saw the ugly version of Kilian against the Phillies earlier in the week and then the good version in this one. On Sunday, he delivered the best start of his career by giving the Cubs five shutout innings. He walked two and struck out four while also allowing just three hits. Standing in his way was the hard-throwing Hunter Greene, who, despite what the record shows, has had a great season. Greene battled through plenty of command issues in this one, walking three and striking out three across four scoreless frames of one-hit ball to end the season with a 2.75 ERA. This was one of those games where runs would be at a premium, but with Greene walking Michael Busch and Isaac Paredes to start the second, the Cubs had the first scoring opportunity of the day. Following a Pete Crow-Armstrong sacrifice bunt to move both runners up, Greene found a way to escape trouble as this remained a 0-0 game. Despite his solid effort, it took the Reds offense four innings to get something going against Kilian. All it took was a Tyler Stephenson walk to start that rally before a TJ Friedl single put a pair of runners on and one out. Both runners managed to move up 90 feet on a wild pitch, but Kilian found a way to escape the jam to keep things tied 0-0. Like the Reds in the top half of the fourth, the Cubs looked to put something together against Greene as a leadoff Seiya Suzuki single was followed by another Busch walk as the Cubs had two on and no outs. Unfortunately, they came away empty as their offense looked like earlier in the season, and they couldn't find a way to pick up the big hit. In what was now a battle of the bullpens in the sixth, Hayden Wesneski took over for the Cubs as his two scoreless frames continued a stretch of great showings since his return from the IL. Like Kilian, Wesneski will be a topic of discussion this offseason as the Cubs need to figure out the perfect role for him on this team. With things still at 0-0 entering the eighth, both teams had an opportunity to score. The Reds put two runners on against Drew Smyly in the top of the inning, and the Cubs did the same against Ian Gibaut in the bottom half, only to have both teams come away empty. Neither team found a way to score in the ninth, as there was some free baseball for the fans in the season finale. This is when the Reds' offense came to life, and it came to life against Ethan Roberts, who has had a very good season. All it took for the Reds to pick up the win was a bases-clearing RBI triple from Elly De La Cruz, as the Reds opened up a 2-0 and were still threatening. That triple was followed by a Stephenson single to extend the lead to 3-0, as it was all Cincinnati at this point. Needing three runs to keep this game alive, the Cubs were down to their last shot as Buck Farmer took over. Chicago managed to put a runner on third, but that was as close as Luis Vazquez would get as the Reds closed out the 2024 season with a shutout win vs the Cubs. Chicago was held to just three hits in the game, as nothing came easy for this team. Nico Hoerner and Suzuki were responsible for two of those hits, but the Luis Vazquez hit was the real story, as that was his first career MLB hit. The Cubs' next up step is the 2024-25 offseason, during which this team will have many questions to address.
