Cubs battle back, get walked-off by Red Sox |
BOSTON - At some point, you have to think the string of injuries will catch up to the Chicago Cubs (17-11), but with 17 wins in April, they have tied the franchise record for wins in April, last set in 1901. That is an impressive feat when you think about it, as it seems like the Cubs are losing a new player every day.
Today, it was Jordan Wicks turn to hit the IL as he has been placed on the 15-day IL with forearm tightness. While the initial prognosis appears to be better, those are words you never want to hear if you are a starting pitcher. With Wicks unable to make the start against the Boston Red Sox (16-13) at Fenway Park on Sunday, Craig Counsell had to figure things out yet again and chose to go with Hayden Wesneski on the mound. Expected to be on a 75-pitch limit, Wesneski pitched four innings for the Cubs, allowing two runs and striking out three. Despite the solid effort, Tanner Houck carved up the Cubs all night, going 6 1/3 innings and striking out nine. He allowed one run and left with a 4-1 lead as the Red Sox were in a great position to win this game. Then came the late-game drama that the Cubs continue to give their fans as Mike Tauchman played hero with a game-tying three-run shot only to have Tyler O'Neill walk things off in the ninth 5-4. Some pitchers are better as relievers than starters, and Wesneski has proven to be a better reliever throughout his career so far. Take the first inning for example as the Red Sox made the right hander work as he needed 25 five pitches to get out of the first. Granted, there was an error that extended the inning longer than it should've been, as Connor Wong made the Cubs pay for that error with an RBI single up the middle to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. Wong was the Red Sox offense for most of the game as he added a second RBI in the third when his roller bounced off the third base bag for an infield hit. Although still early, given the way Houck was pitching, you had to think two runs was going to be enough as it took the Cubs 10 hitters to put a runner on base. Tauchman ended that streak with a single to left, only to have Ian Happ answer with another single to set the Cubs offense up. Houck didn't let that bother him as he buckled down to escape the jam and kept the Cubs off the board for a fourth straight inning. With Wesneski giving the Cubs four innings and being pulled at 63 pitches, some felt he could've gone a bit longer, but Counsell elected to go with Richard Lovelady and the rest of the pen. Lovelady gave the Cubs a scoreless fifth before Yency Almonte came in to pitch the sixth. Since his rough first few outings, Almonte has settled into a more consistent role and is starting to gain more trust from Counsell. This wasn't one of his better outings as he walked the leadoff hitter to begin the inning while the two-out Ceddanne Rafaela double put the Red Sox in a position to bust things open. Jarren Duran did just that as he cleared the bases with a triple to push the lead to 4-0. Looking to get through seven innings, Houck found himself cruising along, only to have a hit-by-pitch to Michael Busch extend the inning. It's amazing how one pitch can suddenly alter one's outing. That was followed by a pair of singles from Dansby Swanson and Matt Mervis, with Mervis putting the Cubs on the board 4-1. Matt Mervis rips an RBI single! pic.twitter.com/b9LNMYWqTb Former Cub Chris Martin finished the inning without any further damage, but the Cubs suddenly had some life. Along with the Wicks move earlier in the day, Daniel Palencia was also recalled from Iowa as he replaced the struggling Luke Little in the bullpen. Palencia has battled some command issues all season, but this was by far his best outing of the year. The hard-throwing right-hander gave the Cubs two scoreless frames, striking out three. After putting together next to nothing offensively most of the game, Martin was the victim of some tough luck in the eighth as bloop singles from Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner set the Cubs offense up with two on and no outs. That brought Tauchman to the plate, and with just one swing of the bat, this was suddenly a 4-4 game as Tauchman took Martin over the center field fence for the three-run blast. 🗣️ yeaah boiii#YouHaveToSeeIt pic.twitter.com/DvDRlnVIbR With Kenley Jensen shutting down the Cubs in the top half of the ninth, Counsell called on Mark Leiter Jr to pitch the bottom half in hopes of getting things to extras. While most of the bullpen has struggled this season, Leiter Jr hasn't been one of them, as he entered the game with a 0.00 ERA. Hoping to keep that up, Leiter was tasked with facing the top of the Red Sox lineup, and walking Duran to start things off wasn't a great start. Neither was the Rafael Devers single, as Boston had runners on the corners and no outs with their hottest hitter O'Neill, at the plate. Already with a massive series under his belt, O'Neill has been a Cubs killer for the past two seasons. Despite Leiter's great pitch that saw O'Neill pop one up into left field, Happ was playing too far back, which forced Swanson to race out and attempt a sliding play. Swanson made the most of that play and got a glove on, but as he was going to the ground, the ball rolled off his glove, and Duran raced home to lift the Red Sox to the 5-4 walk-off win. Chicago had seven hits in the game, with Tauchman leading the way with two hits and three RBIs. Mervis, Hoerner, PCA, Happ, and Swanson had the rest of the hits for the Cubs. Chicago will continue their East Coast trip on Monday when they open a four-game series with the New York Mets. Craig Counsell on tonight's game-ending play that went off the glove of Dansby Swanson. pic.twitter.com/93gZwXgukC
