The Chicago Cubs must have enjoyed their plane ride to San Diego on Sunday night. After dropping two of three against the Texas Rangers, they returned to Wrigley Field and found their stride. The offense clicked, the pitching held, and they found themselves 6-3 headed to the West Coast.
The homestand started with a sweep of the Colorado Rockies. Impressive outings by Shōta Imanaga, Javier Assad, and Ben Brown, paired with remarkable defensive efforts from Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner, limited runs defensively. Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, and a couple of memorable home runs from Cody Bellinger contributed to the Cubs’ offensive firepower, which ranks near the top of the league.
Despite critical injuries to their ace, Justin Steele, rotation anchor, Jameson Taillon, and others, the Cubs have kept moving full steam ahead. Contributions from youngsters like Assad, Brown, and Luke Little have kept things moving, and Monday night started off just as well.
Assad retook the mound in San Diego, and while his pitch count was increasing rapidly, he was still getting outs and moving right along. The offense was doing its thing – converting on multiple bases-loaded situations that led to multiple runs on the board. All-in-all, the Cubs took an 8-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. That would have been the time to go to bed and get a long sleep. I hope you didn’t stay awake.
Bullpen Collapses As West-Coast Swing Starts Historically Bad For The Cubs
Javier Assad’s fatigue set in after he gave up a walk and a home run consecutively. Cubs Manager Craig Counsell decided to relieve him and use Jose Cuas out of the bullpen. Cuas faced five batters, four of whom scored (only two were earned). After Cuas was pulled for Luke Little, Xander Bohgaerts welcomed Little to San Diego by driving an opposite-field home run out to the right-field seats to cap off a seven-run sixth for the Padres. The Cubs’ lead was cut to one.
Héctor Neris relieved Little after a couple of walks surrendered, who gave way to Adbert Alzolay in the eighth after giving up a walk of his own. Then, Fernando Tatis Jr. capped off the comeback with a ball that might still be in the air. The Padres took the lead and won the game 9-8.
The comeback was the largest in San Diego Padres’ history. The Cubs had not relinquished an eight-run lead in a loss since 2002. Every Cubs pitcher who took the mound Monday night surrendered at least one run. Counsell definitely did not want to work his bullpen that hard in the first game of the longest road trip of the season, and he certainly did not want to see those results.
However, let’s keep in mind this is still early April. The Cubs still have 152 games to play to determine the fate of their season. There is no need to hit the panic button just yet. You would much rather this happen on April 8th than September 8th.
