DETROIT — We were all told before this series began that the Tigers were a very, very good team.
The Cubs, I believe, are also a very, very good team, but on this beautiful Sunday afternoon at Comerica Park, they were shut down by Jack Flaherty and three Detroit relievers. That, plus two bad pitches by Cade Horton, a questionable send in the fourth inning and ejections of Nico Hoerner and Craig Counsell, are most of the story of the Cubs’ 4-0 loss to the Tigers.
The Tigers struck in the first inning as Horton was off his game to begin. He allowed a leadoff single to Parker Meadows and then walked Gleyber Torres. Horton retired the next two hitters, but Spencer Torkelson then hit a ball off the wall in right that was just out of Kyle Tucker’s reach and both runners scored.
Flaherty set the Cubs down in order the first time through the batting order, then walked Ian Happ leading off the fourth. Tucker also walked, but Seiya Suzuki struck out.
Admittedly, it took a perfect throw from Kerry Carpenter to throw out Happ. Carpenter played stellar defense in this series. The Cubs challenged, but the call stood.
Me? I think I would have held up Happ at third. Then the Cubs would have had the bases loaded with one out. Carson Kelly followed with a walk, and of course sequencing would have been different, but a bases-loaded, one-out situation might have given the Cubs a better chance to score, especially since Flaherty had been dealing.
In the top of the fifth, Dansby Swanson led off with a double.
Nico Hoerner was then called out on strikes. Here’s the pitch (pitch 5) on which strike three was called.
Well… pitches like this have been strikes before, but that’s not really a strike.
Here’s what happened after that [VIDEO].
Jim Deshaies is correct, Nico never argues like that. Both Hoerner and Counsell were tossed quickly — an umpire with a short fuse is never good, and as JD noted, this is an inexperienced umpire (Derek Thomas, in just his third MLB season, and second full season). Maybe trying to make a statement?
In any case, let me say this right now: The ball-and-strike calls throughout this series were pretty bad, for both sides. The challenge system cannot come soon enough.
More on the ejections from BCB’s JohnW53:
Craig Counsell’s ejection was his first this season and fourth in his 227 games managing the Cubs. He was ejected 28 times in 1,332 games as manager of the Brewers.
Nico Hoerner had been ejected from only one of his previous 608 big league games, his 452nd, at home against the White Sox on June 5 of last year. Like today’s ejection, it came after arguing a called third strike, with one out and nobody on in the third inning. The Cubs trailed, 5-1, but rallied to win, 7-6, on Mike Tauchman’s leadoff homer in the ninth.
The challenge system should eliminate most of these ejections, and get calls right. Can’t wait.
Horton then allowed two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. After the first out in that inning, Torres singled and Carpenter doubled him to third. A single by Riley Greene scored both runners to make it 4-0.
I didn’t think Horton threw badly, apart from those two RBI hits. He struck out six and threw 85 pitches (56 strikes). Here are his six K’s [VIDEO].
And here’s more on Horton’s outing [VIDEO].
Flaherty completed six innings with nine strikeouts, and the rest of the game was shutdown relief from both sides. Tigers relievers Brenan Hanifee, Tommy Kahnle and Will Vest threw three innings, allowing two hits and no walks, with three strikeouts. Cubs relievers Ryan Brasier and Chris Flexen combined for three innings of shutout relief, with three hits allowed and two strikeouts.
Pitching note from BCB’s JohnW53:
Jack Flaherty became the fifth pitcher this season to go at least six innings vs. the Cubs and gave up two or fewer hits.
Andrew Abbott of the Reds gave up one in seven innings on May 30.
The three who gave up two: Tyler Mahle of the Rangers (seven innings, April 9), Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers (six innings, April 11) and Griffin Canning of the Mets (six innings, May 11).
Abbott and Yamamoto gave up no runs, as Flaherty did today. Mahle and Canning gave up one run.
As I said… two very good teams, and it didn’t seem like either team would sweep, so someone had to win the series, and the Tigers did. Tip o’ the cap to them and… hey, maybe we can do this again in October.
About my visit to Comerica Park, it’s a nice ballpark with good sightlines and the Tigers have good fans who have been waiting a long time for a team this good (2024 was their first winning record since 2016.) So you get that, I’m sure. I got parking right across the street from the right-field corner entrance and it was surprisingly easy to get out of any traffic, so kudos to Detroit police for good traffic control.
The Brewers lost Sunday, so the Cubs continue to lead them by 5½ games. At the time of this recap the Cardinals were losing to the Dodgers late; if that score holds up the Cubs will remain four games ahead of them in the NL Central.
The Cubs head to Philadelphia to continue their nine-game road trip having split the first six games. Matthew Boyd will start the series opener for the Cubs and Zack Wheeler will go for the Phillies, who just got swept by the Pirates and have lost five in a row and nine of their last ten. Perhaps the Cubs are heading to Philly at a good time. Game time Monday is 5:45 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.