Game Recap: Late homer sinks Cubs against Astros |
HOUSTON - As if getting blown out by the Twins in back-to-back games wasn't hard enough, the Chicago Cubs (19-22) continued their nine-game road trip with a trip to Minute Maid Park to take on the defending World Series champions. There is an old saying in baseball about having a World Series hangover, and right now, the Houston Astros (22-19) appear to be going through that hangover, although they are playing better lately.
You can blame their lack of offseason moves for some of their struggles and the injuries, but Dusty Baker and his group will not use that as an excuse. They owned up to it and have said they haven't played well this season. It would be nice if other teams would hold themselves accountable for poor play on the field. When it comes to the Cubs, if they want to be the best and be taken seriously, they need to beat the best, and the Astros have been one of the best for years. With Jameson Taillon taking the ball against arguably the Houston ace this season Framber Valdez, this was going to be a tough matchup for the Cubs, and they knew that going in. Despite the Astros putting up four runs in the first and having this game look like a blowout, the Cubs battled back and handed Valdez his worst start in what seems like a year. That is a moral victory, but there are no moral victories in sports, as Michael Fulmer let the team down again by allowing an Alex Bregman homer in the seventh for the 6-4 defeat. Valdez may have struck out eight, but he only made it through four innings as the Cubs made him work. He threw over 90 pitches in those four innings and allowed four runs, but his ERA still sits at 2.84, so you can see how good he has been. Chicago wishes Taillon could do that as the right-hander continues to struggle. Not only did he fail to give the team five innings again, but his ERA is 6.66 for the season after allowing four runs in 4 2/3. Another problem was his inability to miss bats on Monday as he walked one and struck out one. For as bad as Taillon was, all the damage against him came in the first inning, which is becoming an all too common theme. Some pitchers take a little while to settle in, and that is the case with Taillon, but it is hurting this team. Taillon allowed a leadoff single to Mauricio Dubon, who finished the game with three hits, while Yordan Alvarez singled two batters later. On the verge of getting out of the inning with no damage, the Astros used some two-out magic aided by a misplay in left by Christopher Morel that allowed Jose Abreu to double home the game's first two runs. That double was followed by a Jeremy Pena single and a Chas McCormick double as the Astros were off and rolling 4-0. Taillon eventually got out of that inning without allowing any more damage anymore, but trailing by four against Houston is never a good start one inning in. To his credit, he held the Astros there for the rest of his start, as he did settle in to at least give the Cubs offense a chance early. What the Cubs would do with that chance was on them as they had an opportunity to battle back. The first of those chances came in the second when Patrick Wisdom picked up a ground-rule double with two outs, followed by the Trey Mancini walk. Nothing came from that, and neither did anything in the third when Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ reached base with two outs only to be left stranded. To the Cub's credit, they were making Valdez work, and up to this point, they had nothing to show for it. That was until the fourth inning when all their hard work finally paid off. In that inning, you had Cody Bellinger lead things off with a single before the one-out single from Mancini put runners on the corners. In desperate need of a big hit, Yan Gomes at least drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, but now there were two outs with the score sitting at 4-1. Fortunately for the Cubs, Nick Madrigal kept the inning alive with a single, which set the stage for Christopher Morel, who connected for a three-run shot and brought things back to even 4-4. To infinity and beyond! ☄️ pic.twitter.com/UWOkl4OKSN Since his call-up from AAA, all Morel seems to do is hit homers as he continues to prove that his start to the season was not a fluke. Valdez would allow another Swanson single later in the fourth before finishing off his final inning of the night. Taillon managed to get through the fourth but ran into trouble when he allowed a leadoff single to Dubon and Bregman to begin the fifth, only to get Alvarez to ground into a huge double play. That was it for the right-hander as David Ross went to Brandon Hughes to finish off the fifth as this was now a game of the bullpens. Regarding the bullpens, there is no question that the Houston pen is miles ahead of the Cubs pen in terms of success and overall velocity. Phil Maton and Seth Martinez started things off with a scoreless fifth and sixth, while Adbert Alzolay worked around a leadoff single in the sixth to keep things tied. You would've thought Ross would stick with Alzolay another inning, but no. He elected to go with Michael Fulmer, who can't pitch in high-leverage situations. Fulmer got off to a great start by retiring the first two hitters he faced and then allowed a single to Dubon. That was where the game changed as Bregman followed that up with a two-run shot to put Houston in front for good, 6-4. A walk to Alvarez followed that homer as Fulmer was lifted in favor of Jeremiah Estrada. Facing Kyle Tucker, Estrada tried to sneak a fastball by him only to see Tucker crank one to right center. What looked to be extra bases off the bat turned into an incredible play from Bellinger as the inning ended with no further damage. Bellinger was hurt on the play and was removed from the game for what Ross said was a precautionary move. Cody Bellinger exits the game following this catch in right center. pic.twitter.com/1mw3T4wvOp “Doc checked him out — nothing major,” Ross said to the media. “We’ll see how he wakes up in the morning. He’s icing it now ... but all the checks the doc did, ligaments and things seem to be OK.” Down by two in the eighth, Ryan Stanek entered the game and made quick work of the Cubs by striking out the side. The same can be said for Estrada in the bottom half of the eighth, as he allowed two baserunners but came away with three strikeouts. With only three outs to go and another loss staring them in the face, it was up to the Cubs to solve Hector Neris, who has been lights out this season. Making only his second save opportunity of the season, Neris needed fewer than 14 pitches to retire the Cubs in order as he collected two strikeouts to secure his second save of the season. The loss drops the Cubs to a season-worst three games under .500 as they struck out 16 times. That now makes 50 strikeouts for the team in their past four games. When that happens, winning is hard, and the Cubs know that. The Cubs picked up eight hits in the game, and most came against Valdez. Swanson led the way with two hits, while six others had one. The Cubs will look to even the series tomorrow when Justin Steele takes the ball against Christian Javier. Steele has been one of the best pitchers in the game this season and is 6-0 with a sub-2.00 ERA. On a side note, the Cubs made a flurry of roster moves before their game on Monday. Adrian Sampson was transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Brad Boxberger was placed on the 15-day IL with a forearm strain and was replaced by Estrada. You also saw the hard-throwing Ryan Borucki added to the pen to help Ross. The most significant move was seeing Hayden Wesneski optioned to AAA Iowa, leaving a void in the starting rotation. Although not surprising based on his performance, you have to wonder if the Cubs will use a four-man rotation for the next few weeks with the Kyle Hendricks scenario of him taking over for Wesneski as a possibility.
