Well, the loss to Robbie Ray and the Giants wasn’t particularly surprising. The Cubs have had a little bit of trouble with left-handed starters. It could be small sample size, but the Cubs are only 5-4 against lefties as opposed to 17-12 against righties. The overall numbers are very good against lefties, so this will probably work out over time. But Ray has been throwing well and I’m not surprised he gave the Cubs trouble.
What was surprising was that after the Cubs unloaded their bullpen in the 11 inning loss Tuesday night, their bullpen was quite good in this one. After Ben Brown allowed three runs over five innings, the bullpen delivered four scoreless innings. That gave the Cubs ample opportunity to come back in this one. It just didn’t happen.
I don’t think I’ve ever tried to throw out anything even remotely close to Ryan Pressly’s disaster Tuesday night. If you do throw that part out, though, the Cubs bullpen threw five scoreless Tuesday and four on Wednesday. My point there is that you don’t have to squint a lot to see the bullpen starting to come together.
The Cubs offense managed four hits and three walks. Ironically, three of the four hits were doubles. But there just wasn’t enough offensive production in this one. That’s the end of the story really. The Cubs would have needed a superlative pitching performance to win this one.
So the Cubs have dropped three of four. When was the last time that occurred? A little over a week ago. The team bounced right back. The Cubs also lost three of their first four games to start the year. The Cubs are 22-16 despite those three rough spots. This upcoming Mets series is scary with where things are right now. So for the first time this year, I’ll remind you to buckle up because the ride might get bumpy.
Still, this team has overachieved nearly every test so far this year. Just wait, at some point they’ll underachieve some tests. This is the way things go. This team has demonstrated how good that they can be. Hopefully, you’ll take that through the rough times. This team built a three game lead in the division while playing the best teams. They deserve some grace.
Pitch Counts:
Giants: 136, 33 BF
Cubs: 179, 39 BF
These numbers are significant. The Giants really made Cubs pitching work hard in this one. When there is a massive difference in pitch count like this, you can generally infer how the game went. That kind of disparity is often going to lead to a lopsided final score. A double play and an outfield assist helped to limit the damage.
Three Stars:
Nico Hoerner had two doubles and scored the only run. He was the lion’s share of the offense.
Brad Keller threw a perfect inning in a tight game.
Drew Pomeranz literally has to be the first Cub pitcher in years to achieve the Superhero position for facing one batter. Drew came in with the bases loaded and two outs and struck out Mike Yastremski. That felt like it could have been a turning point (along with the Pete Crow-Armstrong outfield assist).
Game 38, May 7: Giants 3, Cubs 1 (22-16)
Fangraphs
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
Superhero: Drew Pomeranz (.049). ⅓ IP, 1 BF, K
Hero: Pete Crow-Armstrong (.033). 1-3, 2B, RBI
Sidekick: Julian Merrywather (.031). IP, 4 BF, BB
THREE GOATS:
Billy Goat: Justin Turner (-.206). 0-4, DP
Goat: Seiya Suzuki (-.132). 0-4
Kid: Ben Brown (-.104). 5 IP, 22 BF, 6 H, 2 BB, 3 ER, 9 K (L 3-3)
WPA Play of the Game: With a runner on first and no outs in the ninth inning, the Cubs down two, Ryan Walker got Justin Turner to ground into a double play. (-.159)
*Cubs Play of the Game: With the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth inning, the Cubs were down two. Gavin Hollowell got Sam Huff to ground into a third to home to first double play, preserving the deficit. (.100)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Poll
Who was the Cubs Player of the Game?
0%
Pete Crow-Armstrong
(0 votes)
0%
Julian Merryweather
(0 votes)
0%
Someone else (leave your suggestion in the comments)
(0 votes)
0 votes total
Yesterday’s Winner: Kyle Tucker received 113 of 166 votes
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
Kyle Tucker +19
Shōta Imanaga +11
Ian Happ +8
Miguel Amaya +7
Jameson Taillon +6
Matt Shaw/Dansby Swanson/Michael Busch/Julian Merryweather -7
Ben Brown -9
Seiya Suzuki -9.5
Up Next: The 24-14 Mets and 22-16 Cubs are both off Thursday ahead of a three-game set Friday. Jameson Taillon (2-1, 3.86, 39⅔ IP) faces right-hander Clay Holmes (4-1, 2.95, 36⅔ IP). This is another tough challenge.