I had a happy recap all ready in my head about this game, wrapped around Ben Brown’s weird start, two stirring Cubs comebacks and some solid relief pitching…
… and then that solid relief pitching went “poof” with two out and nobody on base in the bottom of the ninth. Daniel Palencia retired the first two hitters he faced and then almost in an instant, double, walk, double and the Marlins had a comeback 8-7 win over the Cubs.
That is one tough way to lose a game.
However, there were some good things that happened Monday night in Miami, so let’s take a look at them.
Brown served up home runs to the first two hitter he faced. It did not look like it was going to be a good night for Brown. And then… he retired 12 Marlins in a row. It was like two different Ben Browns on the mound.
About those two home runs, from BCB’s JohnW53:
The two home runs by the Marlins tonight raised the total of first-inning, no-out, bases-loaded homers off Cubs pitchers to 235 since 1912, first season for which baseball-reference.com has searchable play-level data.
This was only the fifth time in which they served up back-to-back homers to the first two batters.
The first was in 1937, off Tex Carleton.
The second and third were in 2018 and 2020, off Kyle Hendricks, vs. the Rockies at home and at Pittsburgh, respectively.
The fourth was in 2022, off Keegan Thompson, at Baltimore.
While most of this was going on, the Cubs couldn’t do much with Edward Cabrera. They went down easily in the first three innings.
In the top of the fourth, Michael Busch led off with a double that bounced into the seats. Dansby Swanson struck out, but Nico Hoerner followed with a single. Another K, by Moises Ballesteros, brought Miguel Amaya to the plate with two out.
Credit to Marlins left fielder Kyle Stowers, who nearly caught that ball. But it landed in the Marlins bullpen and the Cubs had the lead.
That seemed good, until the bottom of the fifth, when Brown got lit up by Marlins bats. He allowed five hits and a couple of stolen bases, and before he was lifted with two out in the inning, four Miami runs had scored to give them a 6-3 lead.
Caleb Thielbar had relieved Brown and picked Otto Lopez off to end the inning.
A note about Brown’s outing from BCB’s JohnW53:
Ben Brown struck out eight and walked none. This was the 194th game since 1901 in which a Cubs starter struck out at least eight without issuing a walk.
It was just the fifth in which the starter surrendered at least six runs.
Jon Lieber allowed six and fanned nine at home vs. the Cardinals in 1999. Then he allowed seven and fanned 10 at home vs. the Astros in 2000.
Yu Darvish allowed seven and fanned eight at home vs. the Giants on Aug. 21, 2019.
Justin Steele allowed six and fanned eight at Pittsburgh on June 23, 2022.
Of those games, the only one the Cubs won was the one in 2019, 12-11.
Here’s more on Brown’s outing [VIDEO].
The Cubs got those four runs back in the sixth, all off Jesús Tinoco, who the Cubs had defeated on Justin Turner’s walkoff double last Tuesday at Wrigley Field.
Busch led off with a single. Swanson singled Busch to second and Hoerner singled to load the bases with nobody out. That made this Nico’s fourth straight two-hit game.
Ballesteros’ infield single made it 6-4 [VIDEO].
The bases thus remained loaded for Amaya, who came through [VIDEO].
Originally, that was ruled a three-run triple for Amaya and a 7-6 Cubs lead. But the Marlins asked for a review on the play on Ballesteros at the plate and it was overturned [VIDEO].
Amaya was thus credited with a double and took third on the out at the plate. He scored on this double by just-recalled Matt Shaw [VIDEO].
So that did make it 7-6, and after Pete Crow-Armstrong struck out, Kyle Tucker was intentionally passed. That’s when Shaw and Tucker executed a perfect double steal [VIDEO].
That was Shaw’s first MLB stolen base, and gave the Cubs two runners in scoring position with a real chance to break the game open. But Seiya Suzuki grounded out to end the inning.
Thielbar threw a scoreless sixth, Ryan Pressly a scoreless seventh and Drew Pomeranz kept his 0.00 ERA intact by allowing nothing in the eighth.
But the Cubs could not extend the lead. They did manage to get runners to second and third with two out in the ninth, but Hoerner flied out to end the inning.
Palencia was given the save opportunity and the first two outs were routine, a ground out and strikeout, with several Palencia pitches hitting 101. But then, one strike from victory, Palencia allowed a double by Derek Hill that bounced into the seats. Maybe that rattled him, because he then walked Javier Senoja on four pitches, only one of which was anywhere near the strike zone — and that one probably should have been called a strike (pitch 3):
That put the winning run on base, and Jesús Sanchez, who had led off the bottom of the first with a home run, tripled in both runners for a Marlins win.
Palencia does have the raw stuff to be a closer. But he’s got to throw more strikes, and put away hitters in situations like that.
Still, the Cubs did come from behind twice, putting together a 12-hit attack. Until that walk in the ninth, Cubs pitchers had not issued a base on balls for the entire game.
And Shaw’s return to the Cubs has to be termed a success, as he went 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base.
Still, this hurts. Hopefully the Cubs can shake it off and win the next two games in the series. One other bad thing about this game: PCA, who demolished the White Sox over the weekend, went 0-for-5, struck out three times and looked pretty awful doing it. Those sorts of things happen to good players and I’m sure PCA will have better games upcoming on this road trip.
Tuesday evening in Miami, we’ll see a pitching rematch of the game last Wednesday at Wrigley Field — Jameson Taillon for the Cubs vs. Ryan Weathers for the Marlins. Game time is again 5:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.