The Brewers defeated the Cubs 7-0 Monday afternoon in a makeup of a game rained out exactly two months ago.
I could stop right there because you probably, really, definitely don’t need to hear any more. The Cubs looked utterly lost most of the afternoon, managing only two hits and three walks on the day. Cade Horton left the game early with a blister (supposedly it’s not serious and he will likely make his next start) and the bullpen tried to patchwork the game for a while, but when Luke Little entered
for the sixth it got awful (including a pitch timer violation), and Gavin Hollowell made things worse. I would expect both of those pitchers to not be on the MLB Cubs team for the doubleheader that will now be played Tuesday, as the night contest was rained out. (What is it about the Brewers? Seems like the Cubs have the worst weather when they’re in town.)
Honestly, I don’t have any more. The two hits were a single by Seiya Suzuki, who celebrated his 31st birthday Monday, and a single in the seventh by Owen Caissie, his firs big-league hit.
Well! The latter event is worth watching, I’d say [VIDEO].
Other than that, the Cubs did have a chance when down only 1-0 in the fourth. With one out, Suzuki, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Carson Kelly all walked to load the bases.
But Caissie struck out and Nico Hoerner hit a line drive to right and that, as they say, was that.
The team looked listless and utterly defeated. And then it rained. Hard.
I have to concur with Jon Greenberg here:
Even if this team holds on to a postseason spot, they’re not going anywhere. Not playing like this, anyway.
One thing we do know: Kyle Tucker’s not going to be playing for a while. He was booed in every at-bat in this game, once just for stepping to the plate, and went 0-for-4. Since July 1 Tucker is batting .189/.319/.235 (25-for-138) with one home run. That’s … just plain bad. Here’s more from Craig Counsell:
You might recall that back in 2022, David Ross did this with Seiya Suzuki, sat him for several games and then he went on a hot streak. Counsell did it with Miguel Amaya last year and the team re-set his batting stance and he had a great second half. Maybe this sort of thing will help Tucker.
One last note on this rather disjointed recap — here’s Horton on his blister [VIDEO].
So the teams will do the doubleheader thing again Tuesday, and the weather forecast is supposed to cooperate.
The Cubs never did put out a lineup for Monday night, and they made no announcement about who’s going off the roster to activate Jameson Taillon, who is now listed to start the day game Tuesday. There were reports that Jordan Wicks was on his way to Chicago, and so I’d expect him to be the 27th man Tuesday, and Gavin Hollowell heads back to Triple-A Iowa. Luke Little threw 42 pitches so wouldn’t likely be available for a few days, so he’s the likely optionee back to Iowa to make room for Taillon. As always, we await developments.
The doubleheader games will be on Marquee Sports Network Tuesday at 1:20 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. CT. We’ll do the usual doubleheader routine here.
Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day.
