Maybe the Cubs are unlucky, maybe they have bad timing or maybe they really just are a .500 baseball team. The Cubs dropped back to .500 after splitting the series with the Tigers and will head back home to face the two teams from Ohio, the Reds and the Indians with four against the Reds and two against the Indians.
The game finished with a 2-7 score in favor of the hosting Detroit Tigers with 6 of the 7 runs for the Tigers coming in the first three innings. Now, if I told you that, immediately you would figure that Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks was shelled, you would in fact be very wrong. Hendricks was pitching brilliantly when with two outs and a man on first and second in the top of the first inning, Chris Denorfia completely miss played a ball in right field. The Tigers would take advantage and score 4 runs in the inning because of a two out error, none of those runs were earned.
Yet another two out error was committed by Kris Bryant later in the game allowing another run to score making it a total of 6 runs given up by Hendricks but only one was earned, that came off of a Solo home run by Miguel Cabrera.
The Cubs lone offensive output came from Starlin Castro who was able to drive in both NL hit leader Anthony Rizzo and rookie Kris Bryant.
"The errors in the outfield are pretty frustrating, you would think out Major Leaguers could judge a fly ball or two but they are out here looking like they are 10 year olds on some of these pop ups and letting the ball drop, which time after time allows a run or two to score."
The Cubs hope to maintain a grasp on 2nd place in the NL Central as they travel home to face fellow 2nd place NL Central team the Cincinnati Reds for a four game series.
League News:
The Twins and the Red Sox agreed to a trade
The Twins receive 3B Rafael Devers
The Red Sox receive 3B Trevor Plouffe
Devers is an 18 year old 3rd baseman that will report to AAA with a B potential. Has played in AA or lower for the Red Sox all season.
Plouffe will give the Red Sox a new bat off the bench and may spell Pablo Sanoval who is struggling in Boston.
Overall a confusing move for both teams as the Twins aren't ready to call up Miguel Sano just yet and Sano should block Devers eventually. While Plouffe now goes to the bench behind the Panda.
Knowing the Red Sox however Plouffe will probably be influential in them making the playoffs or not.
Chicago Cubs at Detroit Tigers
Jun 10, 2015
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Chicago (30-29)
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
2
6
2
Detroit (25-34)
4
0
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
7
8
0
W: Greene (6-4) L: Hendricks (4-4)
Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS
CHC
DET
DET
1
J. Martinez singles, V. Martinez and Iglesias score
The Cubs and the Reds come into play with nearly identical records, the Cubs at 30-30 and the Reds at 29-30. Both teams are in the hunt for the Wild Card and within 7 games of the NL Central leading Milwaukee Brewers.
Here is an early look at the pitching matchups in the four game series.
Game 1
Anthony Descalafani (0-7, 3.77, 49k) @ Jon Lester (6-2, 2.54, 76k)
Well the Cubs have a favorable matchup here, Lester is looking to rebound from his last outing in which he struggled and the Cubs are looking to start things off on the right foot in the series with their Ace on the hill.
Game 2
Johnny Cueto (6-4, 2.23, 70k) @ Jake Arrieta (5-4, 2.96, 75k)
This has the potential for a pitchers duel as both allow less than three runs a game and strike out a large number of batters a game. Look for this to be a low scoring affair, if the Cubs can get to Cueto early it should give them a leg up on the series.
Game 3
Mike Leake (6-3, 2.87, 54k) @ Tsuyoshi Wada (2-1, 3.12, 12k)
We still aren't really sure what to expect from Wada, neither pitcher gets many swings and misses so they will have to hope that the wind is blowing in.
Game 4
Rasiel Iglesias (4-2, 2.97, 69k) @ Jason Hammel (3-2, 3.01, 63k)
This matchup pits the rookie Iglesias who is pitching well against the Vet Hammel. Which will prevail? The Rookie or the vet?
The Cubs and the Reds came into the game both needing a win to get to and above .500. The Cubs sent Jon Lester to the hill and Lester was not spectacular but did enough to keep the Cubs in the game. Lester gave up 9 hits and walked one through 7 innings, though that number is inflated as he went out for the first three batters of the 8th inning and gave up three hits without getting an out.
The Cubs offense struggled against the struggling Anthony Desclafani and were unable to score many runs against the Reds hurler. The Cubs first struck from Addison Russell grounding out with runners on base and were able to get a run in. This is just another added bonus from the Cubs batting a position player 9th instead of 8th as Jon Lester was able to bunt the two runners over so that the Cubs would have a chance with one out to score the runners.
The Cubs were able to score the runners with Russell's ground out and an infield single from Dexter Fowler was able to score David Ross for a 2-1 lead. Anthony Rizzo contributed to the lead with a solo homer in the bottom of the 6th inning.
The Cubs and Lester would give up a run in the 8th before Lester was pulled from the game and Pedro Strop would come in with two runners on and no one out. He was able to get out of the jam and keep the Cubs in the lead 3-2.
Hector Rondon would come on to attempt the save and with 1 out would allow a triple to Zack Cozart. Two strikeouts would hold Cozart at third and the Cubs would go on to win the game 3-2 despite being out hit 10-5.
The Cubs and the Reds came into the game both needing a win to get to and above .500. The Cubs sent Jon Lester to the hill and Lester was not spectacular but did enough to keep the Cubs in the game. Lester gave up 9 hits and walked one through 7 innings, though that number is inflated as he went out for the first three batters of the 8th inning and gave up three hits without getting an out.
The Cubs offense struggled against the struggling Anthony Desclafani and were unable to score many runs against the Reds hurler. The Cubs first struck from Addison Russell grounding out with runners on base and were able to get a run in. This is just another added bonus from the Cubs batting a position player 9th instead of 8th as Jon Lester was able to bunt the two runners over so that the Cubs would have a chance with one out to score the runners.
The Cubs were able to score the runners with Russell's ground out and an infield single from Dexter Fowler was able to score David Ross for a 2-1 lead. Anthony Rizzo contributed to the lead with a solo homer in the bottom of the 6th inning.
The Cubs and Lester would give up a run in the 8th before Lester was pulled from the game and Pedro Strop would come in with two runners on and no one out. He was able to get out of the jam and keep the Cubs in the lead 3-2.
Hector Rondon would come on to attempt the save and with 1 out would allow a triple to Zack Cozart. Two strikeouts would hold Cozart at third and the Cubs would go on to win the game 3-2 despite being out hit 10-5.
Just enough offense in that one, good pitching by Lester...
That home run by Rizzo was perfect timing, I'll admit I was pretty concerned after that Triple to Cozart, the way things have been going that would have made sense to give up two or three runs right away.
The Cubs and the Reds started the game off with a major pitching duel between Jake Arrieta and Johnny Cueto. Though the better of the two proved to be Cueto who went 7 innings striking out 11 and only giving up 3 hits while Arrieta was able to go 6 innings giving up 3 runs to Cueto's 0. The Cubs dug themselves a bigger hole when reliever Jason Motte gave up two more runs in the 7th inning.
The Cubs offense started clicking late with two pinch hitters, David Ross and Junior Lake able to get on and score in Ross' case while Lake was able to double off the wall to score Starlin Castro.
The Cubs left the 8th inning down 3, which gave the possibility that the Cubs could still score. The problem is that the Cubs gave up two more runs to the Reds in the top of the 9th inning putting the Cubs down by 5 going into the bottom of the 9th inning.
The Cubs rallied with a homer by Addison Russell and with 1 out were able to get the tying run onto first base in the form of David Ross. Starlin Castro would line out to right field and then with two outs, Junior Lake hit a rope high and deep to left field, it was going, looking like Ross would score and then a leaping dive by former Cub Marlon Byrd stabbed the ball out of the air ending the game and the Cubs excitement of a comeback in the bottom of the 9th.
Cincinnati Reds at Chicago Cubs
Jun 12, 2015
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Cincinnati (29-31)
0
1
0
0
0
2
3
0
2
2
12
3
Chicago (31-30)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
3
7
1
W: Cueto (7-4) L: Arrieta (5-5) S: Chapman (22)
Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS
CIN
CHC
CIN
6
Frazier homers, Votto scores
2
0
CIN
7
Votto singles, Cozart and Hamilton score, Phillips to 3rd
4
0
CIN
7
Frazier singles, Phillps scores, Votto to 2nd
5
0
CHC
8
Castro triples, Ross scores
5
1
CHC
8
Lake doubles, Castro scores
5
2
CIN
9
Bruce singles, Phillips scores, Frazier to 2nd, Votto to 3rd
6
2
CIN
9
Byrd grounds out to 3rd, Votto scores, Frazier to 3rd, Bruce to 2nd
The Cubs and the Reds met for their third game in a four game series, having split the previous two games, both teams were looking to get an edge in the series. Much like the other two games this series, the starts for both teams came out and were pitched well. Mike Leake for the Reds struggled and wasn't missing enough bats, this caused his hits total to be too high and thus allowed the Cubs to take advantage.
Cubs starter Tsuyoshi Wada dominated the Reds in his 4th start of the season, going the distance and only allowing 7 hits while completing the shutout. Wada did not owever miss many bats and only was able to strike out two batters through 9 innings which may cause problems for him down the road.
The Cubs offensive surge was led by NL hits leader Anthony Rizzo who hit a solo homer in the 3rd, drove in Addison Russell and scored on a Kris Bryant single in the 5th and in the 5th inning the Cubs tacked on a final run when Montero was able to drive in Kris Bryant.
The Cubs once again (For the 4th time in a row following a win) look to push a winning streak, can we call it that, to two games.
"Tsuyoshi was dominant, he got some good defense behind him and then we got a great performance from Rizzo was exactly what we needed to tip the scale in our favor."
Post Game roster moves:
The Cubs elected to make a couple of roster moves with a tough stretch of games coming over the next two weeks and have made the following moves.
Optioned Junior Lake RF to Triple A Iowa
Recalled Brian Schlitter RP from Triple A Iowa
The Cubs and the Reds wrapped up their series in Chicago but it took more than the regular 9 innings to do so. The Hometown scorers may have been a bit generous to a few of the Cubs players late in the game otherwise the Cubs may have been able to end the game a bit sooner.
Anthony Rizzo stayed red hot with another Solo homer, his 3rd homer in the series for his 10th of the season. The Cubs took a 1-0 lead into the top of the 8th behind the strong performance of Jason Hammel who struck out 10 in 7 innings of work.
In the 8th inning with runners on 1st and 3rd, the Reds sent Schumaker to the plate with 1 out. He hit a ground ball to 3rd base where Kris Bryant was already playing in and he threw to the plate to get Billy Hamilton, except Bryant's 70 foot throw was off.
"That was frustrating to see, but we still had the double play in order with two at bats left, though Jason deserved to be in the W column."
Next would be Todd Frazier who grounded into a taylormade double play ball, except Jonathan Herrera, who had no pressure, air mailed the ball to first base on the turn which allowed Negron to score and give the Reds the lead 2-1.
The Cubs with the use of some of their bench, including David Ross who singled, Addison Russel who ran for Ross and was able to steal 2nd. And then the use of two bunts from Chris Denorfia and Jonathan Herrera were able to tie the game.
"Sometimes you do what you have to do so that you can get those runs in, if we have to squeeze to do it we are going to squeeze to do it. "
After shut down pitching by Zach Rosscup, the Cubs went to Pedro Strop who was able to strike out both batters he faced in the top of the 11th inning. The Cubs came to the plate and were able to get a timely pinch hit from none other than Travis Wood who doubled to lead off the inning. The Cubs were able to once again bunt him around to get him in, including a bunt from Addison Russell and once again Chris Denorfia.
"Like I said, you have to bunt if you have to bunt. It worked once, it has worked before, its all a matter of getting the right guy at the plate. We gave Chris the green light for 1 strike, he swung and missed so we decided to bunt him and Travis was able to beat the throw to the plate."
The Cubs now go to an unorthodox 4 game series with the Cleveland Indians.
The first two games will be in Chicago and then the Cubs will travel to Cleveland to finish the series.
The Cubs are once again two games over .500 despite some of their best efforts to blow the game towards the end and face the last place Cleveland Indians for four games which should continue that trend.
Reds at Cubs |
Jun 14, 2015
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Extras
R
H
E
Cincinnati (30-32)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0,0
2
5
0
Chicago (32-31)
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0,1
3
9
1
W: Strop (1-0) L: Gregg (1-2)
Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS
CIN
CHC
CHC
3
Rizzo homers
0
1
CIN
8
Schumaker grounds to Fielders choice to 3rd, Negron to 2nd, Hamilton scores on poor throw from third
1
1
CIN
8
Frazier grounds into fielders choice, Schumaker out at 2nd, Frazier reaches on poor throw by Herrera, Negron scores
2
1
CHC
9
Herrera bunt single, Russell (Running for Ross) scores
06-30-2015, 02:29 PM
