You certainly can’t blame Cubs pitching for the 2-0 loss to the Nationals Wednesday in Washington.
Matthew Boyd was stellar, retiring the first 16 Nats he faced and allowing just two runs. Fun fact: Before this game, the Cubs were 20-0 this year when allowing two or fewer runs.
Welp, That one’s 20-1 now, and the issue here was loading the bases with nobody out in the first inning off MacKenzie Gore on singles by Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly and not scoring at all.
Fangraphs’ run expectancy matrix says that on average, a team will score about two runs in that situation.
But the Cubs scored none. Pete Crow-Armstrong and Dansby Swanson struck out, and Nico Hoerner popped up in foul territory.
Happ walked leading off the third. Nico was hit by a pitch with one out in the fourth. Suzuki walked with two out in the eighth.
Those were all the other Cubs baserunners until the ninth. Of those three, only Hoerner got past first base, stealing second. I’ll get to the ninth in a bit, but first let’s talk about Boyd’s outstanding outing.
As noted, Boyd had a perfect game going until the sixth. He had some help from his defense, including this PCA catch in the fifth [VIDEO].
The perfect game was gone when Boyd walked Nasim Nuñez with one out in the sixth. Then he picked Nuñez off for the second out, but immediately Robert Hassell III singled to break up Boyd’s no-hit bid.
Boyd lost his chance for a shutout when Amed Rosario homered leading off the seventh and … how did Rosario hit this pitch that far?
That’s got to be nearly a foot outside. Sure, a major league hitter can hit that, but 350 feet? Yeesh. Look where this pitch was! [VIDEO]
The next hitter was James Wood, and Boyd got more defensive help from Michael Busch [VIDEO].
Gore departed after seven, but the only baserunner off reliever Brad Lord was Suzuki’s walk. The Nats got an insurance run off Boyd in the eighth on a single by Alex Call and double by Nuñez. Génesis Cabrera, who’s been very good so far as a Cub, wrapped up the eighth with two ground outs, one of them on this sliding stop by Dansby Swanson [VIDEO].
The Cubs had a chance in the ninth against Nats closer Kyle Finnegan. With one out, Swanson singled and one out later, Busch singled, putting the tying run on base. Jon Berti ran for Busch.
Kyle Tucker, who’d missed most of Sunday’s game and all of Tuesday’s with a jammed right ring finger, came out of the dugout to pinch-hit.
It would have been a great story if he’d come through, but as Jim Deshaies noted on the broadcast, pinch-hitting is a tough assignment no matter how good a hitter you are. Tucker grounded out to end the game [VIDEO].
Summary: Boyd was really good. Gore was better. Tip o’ the cap to Gore, and move on.
Boyd became just the second Cubs starter to record an out in the eighth inning this year (Shōta Imanaga on April 4 was the other). He struck out six [VIDEO].
Here’s more on Boyd’s outstanding outing, in which he threw 95 pitches (68 strikes) [VIDEO].
Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].
Thursday would have been Colin Rea’s turn to start, and instead Counsell will once again go to Drew Pomeranz as an opener, with Rea likely to follow. Pomeranz hasn’t thrown since he was the opener last Saturday for Ben Brown, and with the Nats being a very lefthanded-hitting team, this seems like a good choice. Jake Irvin will start for Washington. Game time is again 5:45 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.