Especially at night
I worry over situations
I know will be all right
Perhaps it’s just imagination
Day after day it reappears
Night after night my heartbeat shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away — Men at Work, “Overkill”
The Cubs did a lot of things right Sunday. Generally good pitching from Shōta Imanaga and Brad Keller. Another home run from Matt Shaw, his second in the series and third in his last four games.
And then… there were the things that went wrong. Pete Crow-Armstrong getting picked off second base. Jon Berti getting caught stealing. And a stolen base allowed to Jordan Walker of the Cardinals that led to the eventual winning run scoring in a frustrating 3-2 loss.
Imanaga and Sonny Gray matched zeroes for the first two innings. Despite the Cubs getting a runner to scoring position with two out in the first, they could not score.
Then Imanaga allowed a leadoff single in the third and a two-run homer to Pedro Pagés.
With one out in the fourth, PCA stole second, his 30th. Three more home runs and he’ll have the first 30/30 season for a Cub since Sammy Sosa did it 30 years ago, in 1995. Sosa also had a 30/30 season in 1993. He’s the only Cubs player to accomplish the 30/30 feat.
Then Gray picked PCA off [VIDEO].
So the game remained at 2-0 Cardinals into the fifth, when with one out Dansby Swanson reached on a throwing error.
Shaw was the next hitter. Boom! [VIDEO]
That’s where the game stayed until the bottom of the seventh. Imanaga retired the first two batters easily. Then Walker singled and stole second. He scored on a single by Nolan Gorman to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead. Keller relieved Imanaga and closed the inning off without further incident.
Imanaga’s outing was generally good. The home run and the stolen base did the damage, but Shōta didn’t walk anyone for the fourth straight starts. He’s now faced 100 consecutive batters without issuing a walk. He struck out nine [VIDEO].
More on Imanaga’s strikeouts from BCB’s JohnW53:
Imanaga’s nine strikeouts were his most this season. He had had eight once. He had nine in his MLB debut last season, then later had two games of 10, both in seven innings, and one of 11, in six innings. All of those games were at home, so his nine Sunday were his most on the road.
Here’s more on Shōta’s outing [VIDEO].
The Cubs put runners on first and third with two out in the eighth. Seiya Suzuki walked and Kyle Tucker singled him to third. But Carson Kelly grounded out to end the inning.
Keller retired the Cardinals in order in the eighth, so the Cubs had one final chance. Craig Counsell sent Justin Turner up to pinch-hit for PCA. That’s… an unusual decision. PCA had been pinch-hit for just one other time this year, in the 11-0 blowout loss to the Yankees last month. That was perfectly understandable. This one? Well, PCA is in a pretty awful slump. Turner has hit lefthanders well this year. It didn’t work, as Turner hit the ball well but for a fly out to center.
Ian Happ followed with a walk and Jon Berti ran for him. Everyone in Busch Stadium, and those of us watching the game on TV, knew that Berti was going to take off for second base, which he did [VIDEO].
The play was really, really close. In the end, it was ruled “call stands” because there wasn’t enough video evidence to overturn the call on the field. Berti beat the throw; had he been called safe, it probably would have also been “call stands.” But he wasn’t.
Nico Hoerner followed with a single that would have scored Berti easily from second. Swanson also singled, putting runners on first and second with two out.
But Shaw then hit into a force play to end the game.
As I noted at the top of this recap, many things went right in this game, including giving up only four hits. More from John:
Before Sunday’s game, the Cubs had a .780 winning percentage since 1901 when they had given up exactly four hits: 742 wins, 208 losses and 3 ties. They had been even better vs. the Cardinals: .785 (89-24-2).
This year, the Cubs had been 9-1. The loss was by 2-0 at Washington on June 4. They had won six in a row since then.
The Cubs actually still have a pretty good record in one-run games: 16-11. But losing this one, which gives the Cubs three series losses in their last four, was not good, not good at all. They fell six games behind the Brewers in the NL Central — there are still 45 games remaining, which is quite a few, but… maybe it’s time for the Cubs to focus on the top wild-card spot. Even at that, they’re going to have to start winning. This season, as noted in the headline, seems to be fading away.
Perhaps that can begin Tuesday in Toronto. Ben Brown is the Cubs’ scheduled starter Tuesday and José Berríos will go for the Blue Jays in the series opener in Canada. Game time Tuesday is 6:07 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network (and also on TBS outside the Cubs and Blue Jays market territories).