For a very short amount of time, it was en vogue to note a so called Cubbie Occurrence. That Ryan Zeferjahn borderline pitch that ended up being ball four and not a game ending strike three was the kind of thing that we used to see spiral to one of those occurrences. Hat tip to Ryan for not losing a beat or getting frustrated. 0.1 inch stood between him and a clean ninth and ending the game on a beautiful edge of the strike zone pitch. That pitch would be hard to do much with other than foul off
and it clearly surprised Griffin Conine. But a few pitches in on the fists later, Ryan got a harmless pop fly and his first save as a Cub.
Zeferjahn became the 14th different Cub to record a save this season, one of the guys that seemed most likely of those without a save yet. So “number of unique pitchers with one save” has now taken back the lead from “number of walk-off wins.” The Cubs have nine opportunities left for a walk-off. They won’t have another until they return home from this trip, obviously. On the other hand, there are 19 opportunities left for a save by a unique pitcher. The thing is, the next new person to record a save would almost certainly be presently rehabbing at Iowa. I don’t even know who I am suggesting, but all of the current relievers already have saves. There are a few on the 40-man roster who don’t have any and three former starters rehabbing right now. “Number of different relievers with a save” seems likely to win, but only because they are currently winning and walk-offs aren’t even possible in half the games and are just generally hard to do.
Another win in a close game. The Cubs have won three straight. The calendar is creeping towards the finish line and so every win is really important. It’s hard to imagine that it won’t matter who hosts a likely Phillies/Cubs series. And of course it always helps to be playing well when the postseason starts. All of this takes on extra importance anywhere the pitching is involved. With so many pitchers acquired at the trade deadline and so many rehabbing pitchers hoping to make a return, there is a great than usual amount of uncertainty with the roles of various pitchers.
We’ve seen a few teams, the Nationals coming to mind, that are really young and competitive. You can see some teams that might increasingly be a handful in years to come. I give the Cubs credit, they’ve done a pretty good job of taking the jab from these teams, staying in the fight and then eventually winning. This team gets back into the fight so well. The Mariners series, the Diamondbacks series, the Reds. All three of those back-to-back-to-back were frustrating. But the team didn’t tailspin. They had a hard-fought draw with the Brewers and then went and took the first two from the Marlins.
It’s pretty much always going to take a team effort in a close game and this game was no exception. The Cubs had 13 hits and drew six walks. They had a batter get hit, 20 total base runners. There were some mistakes made on the bases that shut down potential rallies. If this had been a loss, almost everyone who appeared in the game would come away with a play or two that they were involved with that could have gone better. With it being a win, almost everyone chipped in at some point.
I want to give a hat tip to Caleb Thielbar. The line isn’t a work of art. But he got four outs after things got tight (granted, the homer he allowed to Griffin Conine was what let it get tight). With Jacob Webb down, it wasn’t clear how the Cubs were going to bridge the last half of the game. I give another hat tip to Pete Crow-Armstrong with another hit, walk and run batted in. He’s so often affecting games these days. Seiya Suzuki did a nice job reaching base three times. Javier Assad did what he does. He played with fire all day long and usually got out of the jams he created.
But there were three pretty clear stars in this one I think.
Three Positives:
- Ryan Zeferjahn with a five-out save. Again, 0.1 inch and he’d have had a five up and five down save. Really clutch. This Marlins team competes offensively.
- Ian Happ had two singles and a walk. He drove in two big runs.
- Michael Conforto had a solo homer among his two hits. He scored twice. 14 homers as a part time player is excellent.
Game 143, September 5: Cubs 6, Marlins 5 (81-62)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Ryan Zeferjahn (.388). 1.2 IP, 6 BF, BB, K (Sv 1)
- Hero: Ian Happ (.196). 2-4, BB, 2 RBI
- Sidekick: Michael Conforto (.146). 2-3, HR, RBI, 2 R
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Trent Thornton (-.132). 0.2 IP, 5 BF, H, R, 2 HBP
- Goat: Caleb Thielbar (-.110). 1.1 IP, R, HR
- Kid: Pedro Ramirez (-.107). 0-5
WPA Play of the Game: Griffin Conine’s two-run homer with two outs in the fifth. It cut the Cubs lead to one. (.195)
Cubs Play of the Game: Ian Happ batted with the bases loaded and two outs in the third and came up with a two-run single. That gave them an early three run lead. (.162)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 142 Winner: Shōta Imanaga received 68 of 77 votes.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
- Alex Bregman +26
- Pete Crow-Armstrong +25.5
- Ben Brown +13.5
- Javier Assad +12
- Shōta Imanaga/Michael Conforto +11
- Nico Hoerner -13
- Jameson Taillon -13
- Seiya Suzuki -15
- Dansby Swanson -17
- Caleb Thielbar -17.5
Scoreboard Watching: The most important result of the day is that the Phillies won, staying half a game behind the Cubs. The Braves lost to the Phillies and their division lead is back down to four with four games remaining between these two teams. The Phillies are not dead in the water yet. The Cubs win keeps pressure on all of the Wild Card teams as the Cubs move closer to locking down one spot. Other results: Dodgers win (up four on Cubs), Padres lose (Cubs up 6.5), Brewers lose (up seven), Diamondbacks win (Cubs up six).
Up Next: A chance for a sweep. The Cubs last swept a team when they swept the Dodgers at Wrigley back in early August. With Saturday’s win, the Cubs are now 5-4 with four games left in this stretch of 13 straight. If the Cubs could finish the sweep, then they would only need one win in Milwaukee to have a winning record over this stretch. The Cubs will send out Clay Holmes (6-6, 2.09). Clay has been excellent as a Cub (2-2, 1.55) in five starts. Last time, he was brilliant against the Brewers, allowing five hits, two walks and no runs over six.
Tyler Phillips (4-6, 3.43) starts for the Marlins. He’s made 33 appearances for the Marlins this year, 16 of them are starts but he also has two saves. So he’s been used a lot of ways. He’s 2-1 with a 3.19 over his last seven (six starts). Last time, he was terrific, allowing a hit and two walks over five innings, no runs allowed. That was at Kansas City. He’s only recorded one out after the fifth inning since the end of June, so this is the same deal. He’s a bridge to their bullpen. Their bullpen has done reasonably well in this series, save for an inning Friday evening in the opener.
Sweeps are hard. Sweeps on the road are harder. But this team has done both. It sure would be great to see them do it again.
