The Cubs lost to the White Sox 3-0 on a gorgeous Wednesday afternoon, and the “gorgeous” part is about the only good thing I can say about the afternoon… with the offense disappearing, I am reduced to paraphrasing Jimmy Buffett lyrics for a headline.
And come on. José Urquidy? A guy the Sox picked up four weeks ago from the Pirates for a minor leaguer and who had entered this game with an 8.10 ERA and 2.200 WHIP in six games between the Pirates and Sox this year, with 20 hits allowed in 10 innings?
THAT guy shuts the Cubs lineup down?
Where did that come from? Cubs hitters were utterly baffled in six innings thrown by Urquidy after Sean Newcomb — ex-Cub who had an ERA over 9 when he was a North Sider — shut them out for two innings.
So it really didn’t matter what Cubs pitching did, since the Cubs had only two hits, an infield single by Tyrone Taylor in the fourth and a double by Taylor leading off the sixth. The latter was just about the only chance the Cubs had to score. They were down only 1-0 at the time, runner in scoring position, nobody out.
Pete Crow-Armstrong then flied to medium deep right field. Then this happened [VIDEO].
As you can see, Braden Montgomery made a perfect throw and had Taylor by quite a bit. Still, it was ill-considered. You’re still in scoring position with Seiya Suzuki and Alex Bregman due up. Instead, now there’s nobody on base and two out.
Sigh.
Clay Holmes threw a decent 5.2 innings, allowing six hits and two walks and one run, getting 10 outs by ground ball. It just wasn’t quite good enough to win this game.
Ryan Rolison got touched up for two runs in the eighth that put the game completely out of reach, but really, it was out of reach at 1-0. The Cubs offense simply got shut down. It happens.
I do want to show you three nice defensive plays made by the Cubs.
A strikeout-throw out double play in the fourth [VIDEO].
Bregman, in the fifth with the game still scoreless [VIDEO].
Nico Hoerner, with the game still 1-0 in the eighth [VIDEO].
I have a couple of notes for you from BCB’s JohnW53. First, a Cubs vs. Sox note:
This was the 12th time the Cubs have been shut out in their 158 regular-season games vs. the White Sox.
It was the sixth at Wrigley Field. The others were by 5-0 in 2009, 1-0 in 2011, 6-0 in 2012, 1-0 in 2012 and 4-0 on Aug. 7, 2021 — the last at home or on the road before today.
The Cubs finished with two hits in a 7-0 loss on the South Side on June 6, 2012, and with three in a 6-0 loss on the road on June 25, 2010, and the 1-0 loss at home on July 10, 2015.
The Cubs have blanked the Sox six times. The fewest hits they allowed were five, in a 1-0 win on June 13, 2010 — their only shutout at Wrigley.
And then there’s this, making this game unique in Cubs history:
This was the first of the Cubs’ 19,641 regular-season games since 1901 in which they had exactly two hits, both by the No. 9 hitter in their order.
It was the 1,298th game in which the No. 9 hitter made two hits.
It was the 230th in which the Cubs made exactly two hits, and the 134th of those in which they were shut out.
And hey, like I said, it was a beautiful summer day, which is worth noting in Chicago because we have had the rainiest summer I can remember in quite some time.
These kinds of games happen. As Kyle Hendricks used to say, “Flush this one and move on.”
The Cubs will move on to Seattle after an off day Thursday. At this writing neither the Cubs nor Mariners have listed a starting pitcher for Friday’s series opener, but I’d think the Cubs likely go with Matthew Boyd. As always, we await developments.
Game time Friday is 9:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
