The weather was absolutely gorgeous at Wrigley Field Thursday afternoon.
Unfortunately for the Cubs, the only gorgeous thing for them was Shōta Imanaga’s seven-inning, thre-hit, two-run start. And unfortunately for Imanaga, one of those hits was a two-run homer by Brice Turang after a leadoff walk in the second inning. (Have I mentioned how much a) Turang annoys me and b) I hate leadoff walks?)
After Imanaga allowed those two runs, he retired 16 of the next 18 Brewers. The only runners who reached after the homer were Joey Ortiz on a leadoff single in the third, and Andrew Vaughn on a one-out walk in the seventh. The latter happened after Imanaga had retired 13 straight.
The Cubs simply could not get any offense going. They had only four hits, but drew eight walks and still got just one run home.
They loaded the bases with two out in the second on a one-out single by Ian Happ and another by Willi Castro with two out, followed by a Dansby Swanson walk. But Reese McGuire grounded out to end the inning.
Then the Cubs had a runner in scoring position in the fourth. Happ walked with one out and one out later, Castro was hit by a pitch. Swanson grounded out to end the inning.
Finally, the Cubs got on the board in the fifth. McGuire led off with a walk and Michael Busch singled. One out later, Seiya Suzuki walked to load the bases.
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s sacrifice fly made it 2-1 [VIDEO].
But the Cubs couldn’t get any runners past first base in the sixth or seventh. Busch led off with a single in the seventh, but Kyle Tucker’s line drive was caught by Turang and Busch slipped trying to get back and was doubled off. (Truth be told, he probably is doubled off even if he doesn’t slip.)
Imanaga, as noted, was magnificent after the homer. All told he threw 98 pitches (63 strikes) and when you give your team an outing like that, the team should probably win 75-80 percent of the time.
Shōta struck out five [VIDEO].
Here’s more on Imanaga’s afternoon [VIDEO].
More from BCB’s JohnW53:
This was Imanaga’s ninth quality start. The Cubs are just 5-4 in those starts. They are 31-9 in all other pitchers’ quality starts.
Trailing by one entering the eighth, I found Craig Counsell’s choice of Ryan Brasier curious. Brasier had been just awful this month, though he did throw a scoreless inning in the night game Tuesday. Still, with Andrew Kittredge available, along with Caleb Thielbar — why do this? Was Counsell trying to send a message to Jed Hoyer to dump Brasier?
Because Brasier certainly sent that message. He allowed three hits and two runs, even though he also picked Isaac Collins off second base. Eli Morgan is going to begin a rehab assignment soon and it’s entirely possible that when Morgan is ready to return, Brasier is going to be gone. Brasier in August: Six games, 14.40 (!) ERA, 11 hits and two walks and a 2.600 WHIP. That’s just… bad.
Trailing 4-1 heading to the last of the eighth, the Cubs did attempt a rally. PCA and Happ walked to lead off the inning, bringing the tying run to the plate. But Nico Hoerner struck out — unusual for him, just his 37th strikeout in 503 plate appearances — and Castro flied to right.
Owen Caissie was sent up to bat for Swanson, to loud applause, but he grounded out on the first pitch he saw.
In the ninth, Carson Kelly batted for McGuire and led off with a single, but the next three Cubs were retired in order by former Cub Trevor Megill, who posted his 30th save. There’s another pitcher Hoyer let go for nothing. Sigh.
So the Cubs failed to move to within five games of the Brewers, instead dropping to seven games back with 34 to play. Is it impossible to catch them? No, but with no more games against Milwaukee, it will be extremely difficult. Instead, the Cubs should look to lock in the top wild-card spot so they can have home games in that postseason round. They do have the tiebreaker over the Brewers, should things come to that. They’ve played Milwaukee tough this year, and if these two teams meet in the NLCS, that could be an epic series.
A couple more notes on this game from John:
Today’s game was the 12th straight in which the Cubs have made fewer than 10 hits — their longest such streak this year and tying their longest last year. They had a 13-game streak in 2023 and a 20-game streak in 2021, matching their record, set in 1917.
This was the Cubs’ 4,000th regular-season loss at Wrigley Field, in 8,623 games since they made the park their home in 1916. They have won 4,593 and tied 31, for a winning percentage of .534. On the road, since the start of 1916, the Cubs’ percentage is .465.
The thing about fewer than 10 hits seems important. This team had an outstanding offense in the first half, but that seems to have vanished lately. Part of that, of course, is the poor performance of Kyle Tucker, who we now know actually was affected by the finger injury suffered in June. Tucker started and went 0-for-4 with a walk, but was greeted generally with applause from the Wrigley Field crowd. Hopefully he can get things going on the upcoming road trip.
The Cubs will begin a nine-game western swing in Anaheim Friday. At this writing neither team has a starting pitcher listed, though I suspect Ben Brown might get the series opener Friday evening. Game time Friday is 8:38 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.