Cubs rally in ninth but fall to Guardians in extras |
CHICAGO - Just when it seemed like the Chicago Cubs (38-44) played themselves back into the division race, a taste of De Ja Vu has crept up on them. After pulling within one game of the .500 mark in London, the Cubs have now dropped six of their last seven, including a 1-5 home stand at Wrigley Field this week. That can't happen when you are battling for a playoff spot, and it is starting to feel like this team will be in a selling position once again.
For the Cubs to compete, they must figure out what to do with Jameson Taillon, as he had another rough showing against the Cleveland Guardians (41-42) on Sunday. Taillon continues to pitch into the fifth, but when you allow six runs, with five of them earned, you are not giving your offense much of a chance. The Cubs, however, finally started to show signs of life late in the game and battled against one of the best closers in Emmanuel Clase. The Cubs not only pushed a few runs across to make things interesting, but they scored four times in that ninth inning and rallied to tie things up 6-6. However, the Guardians got the last laugh as they scored a pair of 10th-inning runs against Adbert Alzolay to pick up the 8-6 extra-inning victory to claim the series. This was a painful loss for the Cubs, but considering their position most of the day, you have to consider them fortunate. Opposing Tallion was Adam Civale, who gave the Guardians six impressive innings. Despite striking out two in his outing, Civale scattered three hits and allowed just one run as he finished his day with a 2.96 ERA. He was locked into a scoreless battle with Taillon early as both pitchers tossed a pair of shutout innings. Civale had to work a bit harder, especially in the second, as the Cubs had a couple of runners on, but couldn't do anything with it. Once the third inning rolled around, the Guardians offense started to get rolling as they scored six times across the next three innings. Two runs came in the third, with Myles Straw leading things off with a single, followed by the Andres Gimenez homer that put the Cubs in a 2-0 hole. Cleveland kept the pressure on in the third with singles from Josh Naylor and Will Brennan, with an RBI fielder choice making things 3-0. With Civale continuing to do his thing on the mound and keeping the Cub's offense scoreless through four, the Guardians looked to put things away in the fifth. Cam Gallagher started the top of the fifth off with a single before advancing to third on the Gimenez double. Amed Rosario followed that up and kept the line moving as his RBI single extended the Guardian's lead and had them in front 5-0. Cleveland would add one more run in that inning on a Josh Bell groundout as they took a 6-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth. Despite trailing by six and allowing three more runs to score in the Guardians half of the fifth, the Cubs offense started to show signs of life in the bottom of the fifth to put Civale in a bit of a jam. Yan Gomes and Trey Mancini opened the inning up with singles, with Mike Tauchman ending the shutout bid with an RBI groundout. The Cubs were unable to do anything else and finished the inning trailing 6-1. With Taillon now out of the game, it was going to be up to the Cubs pen to try and keep things close, and that they did. The combination of Michael Rucker, Anthony Kay, Hayden Wesneski, and Alzolay may not have struck out many hitters, but they managed to keep the Guardian's offense quiet, which gave the Cubs and their offense a chance to battle back late. Christopher Morel started the comeback bid with a solo shot in the eighth as the Cubs were within 6-2. For Morel, it was his 15th homer in less than 50 games, as he now leads the team in that category. Despite pulling within four after that homer, it was in the ninth when the Cubs offense really opened up, and it came against one of the best relievers in the game. A Jared Young walk started off the ninth inning on a positive note before he advanced to second on a wild pitch. Still standing on second with one out, it was a Trey Mancini single that pulled the Cubs a bit closer and made things a 6-3 game. Singles from Tauchman and Nico Hoerner followed that up to load the bases before Morel bounced once through the middle of the diamond, and just like that, the Cubs were within a run. Still batting and with the runners on the corners, Clase tried to sneak one past Cody Bellinger only to have him loft one to left field for the sacrifice fly to tie things up 6-6. Seiya Suzuki grounded out shortly after to end the inning, but the damage was already done with the Cubs tying things up and forcing extra innings. In the extra frame, David Ross turned to arguably his best reliever as Alzoaly stepped in to try and keep things right where they were. Allowing a single to Rosario didn't help as runners were not at the corners, but after getting Jose Ramirez to ground out, it looked like the Cubs were about to dodge another bullet. That was until Josh Naylor took it upon himself to drive one up the middle and brought home a pair of runs to give the Guardians an 8-6 lead. That was all they would need as the Cubs went down in order in their half of the 10th and fell to the Guardians 8-6. Morel led the offense with three hits and three RBIs, as the Cubs had nine hits in the game. Mancini added two hits from the No. 9 spot, with four other players picking up one. The Cubs will now hit the road for their final seven games leading up to the all-star break, which starts with four games at Milwaukee on Monday.
