When Jameson Taillon went down with an injury in the second inning, it appeared that any chance of the Cubs winning Sunday’s game — especially since they were already down 1-0 with a runner on base — was close to zero.
They didn’t win, losing the game 2-1 and the series to the Giants, but the failure was certainly not the fault of Javier Assad, who had been called up from Triple-A Iowa Saturday to provide “length” out of the bullpen. That he did, and more, throwing 6.1 outstanding innings, allowing
one hit and just two other baserunners. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for the Cubs to win the game.
Taillon threw 29 pitches in a rough first inning in which the Giants had a walk and two singles that produced a run. After the Cubs went out meekly in the bottom of the first on just eight pitches from Giants starter Trevor McDonald, Taillon walked Matt Chapman leading off the second.
On ball four to Chapman, Taillon immediately signaled to the dugout [VIDEO].
He left the game, and a bit later:
We don’t yet know how serious this is, but I’d imagine this puts Taillon out until after the All-Star break.
As noted above, Assad came in and slammed the door shut. He did hit the first batter he faced, and the two Giants runners were advanced on a sacrifice bunt.
Great throw by Pedro Ramirez, great tag by Carson Kelly. The play was reviewed and ruled “call stands.”
After that, Assad allowed just two more baserunners, a leadoff walk followed by a single in the fourth. A double play followed, the first of 13 consecutive Giants retired by Assad before he left to a warm ovation in the eighth. The 6.1 inning scoreless relief appearance was the first by a reliever for the Cubs in a very long time. From BCB’s JohnW53:
The last Cubs reliever to pitch at least 6.1 scoreless innings, as Javier Assad did Sunday night, was Tom Dettore, way back on Aug. 16, 1974, at home vs. the Padres. He pitched 6.1, gave up three hits, walked one and struck out six.
There had been only five earlier in the Expansion Era:
7.0: Ray Burris, 1973
7.1: Tom Phoebus, 1972
7.0: Bill Hands, 1967
6.1: Cal Koonce, 1965
8.0: Koonce, 1964There have been 78 such games since 1901, of which 19 were in the Dead Ball Era.
Here’s more on Assad’s outing [VIDEO].
But the Cubs offense produced… nothing. Well, not totally “nothing,” as they did tie the game in the third. With two out, Kelly singled and went to second on a single by Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Another single by Moisés Ballesteros scored Kelly [VIDEO].
But that was it. The Cubs loaded the bases in the fourth. Ian Happ sent a ball to the right-field corner with one out and legged out a triple. After Seiya Suzuki hit a sharp line drive to short, Nico Hoerner and Ramirez walked. But Kelly struck out to end the inning.
Jacob Webb relieved Assad in the eighth and retired both hitters he faced. He’s really become very reliable.
The Cubs had an excellent chance to score in the bottom of the eighth. Miguel Amaya, batting for Ballesteros, walked. Kevin Alcántara ran for Amaya. Michael Busch dribbled a ball in front of the plate and was safe at first with a hit, and when Giants pitcher Erik Miller threw the ball away, Alcántara took third.
What was Alcántara thinking being so far off third base? Alex Bregman hit the ball hard, but right at first baseman Rafael Devers, whose throw to Chapman easily beat Alcántara back to the base for a double play.
Daniel Palencia threw a 1-2-3 ninth. The Cubs had yet another good scoring chance in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Hoerner singled and Ramirez walked. The winning run’s on second. But Kelly popped up for the second out. PCA, with a chance to be a walk-off hero for the second time this homestand, grounded to first, so on to extras the game went for the second day in a row.
Trent Thornton threw the 10th, and on his second pitch Chapman singled in the placed runner to give the Giants a 2-1 lead. Thornton got out of the inning with no further damage. Could the Cubs repeat a 10th-inning win?
Well, no, they could not. PCA was the placed runner. Michael Conforto, who hit a walk-off homer earlier this year, batted for Alcántara and struck out.
Then PCA took off for third [VIDEO].
That’s a very risky play when you’re already in scoring position. But now, a fly ball to the outfield could tie the game.
As you know, the Cubs could not produce that fly ball. Busch popped up and Bregman, who has been getting booed lately, also popped up to end the game.
For his part, Bregman acknowledged the boos and that he hasn’t played well:
Credit where it’s due: Bregman is a stand-up guy. He did not make excuses for his poor play so far. He wore it, he gets that fans are frustrated with him. We can only hope that he improves from here.
Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].
And then, there’s this summary of the game (and really, this whole season):
You have heard that story before, so I won’t belabor it. This just has to get better or the remaining 96 games are going to be really, really unhappy. Lastly, the Cubs, who started out 18-5 at Wrigley Field, have lost 10 of their last 12 home games and since May 8 are 7-20, the worst record in MLB over that span.
The Cubs have Monday off and then open a three-game series against the Rockies in Denver Tuesday evening. Colin Rea will start for the Cubs and Tomoyuki Sagano will go for Colorado. Game time Tuesday is 7:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
