What would you call the opposite of a baseball manager’s “circle of trust”?
Because that’s where the Cubs are probably going to have to send Jacob Webb after yet another blown save, yet another two-run homer served up, yet another game where it’s clear he can no longer be used in high-leverage situations.
The numbers are horrific. In his last eight appearances, Webb has thrown 6.2 innings and has a 14.85 ERA, 2.100 WHIP, 14 hits and four walks allowed and the worst part, four home runs — all of which
either gave the other team the lead or tied the game. In those eight games, Webb had four blown saves.
Convert even two of those save opportunities and the Cubs are a lot more comfortable in the Wild Card race. Unfortunately, these games are in the books and they are, at the moment, not.
All right, that’s out of my system, let’s look back at the Cubs’ 6-3 loss to the Braves, all of Atlanta’s runs scoring via three two-run homers.
Kevin Gausman had a rough first inning — 25 pitches — but got out of it scoreless. The Cubs put two runners on in the bottom of the inning via a pair of two-out walks, but could not score.
The Cubs took the lead in the bottom of the second. Michael Busch led off with a single and advanced to second on a walk by Matt Shaw.
Pedro Ramirez’s single scored Busch to make it 1-0 [VIDEO].
Miguel Amaya then sacrificed Shaw and Ramirez up a base, putting runners on second and third with one out. Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a ground ball to second and Shaw was thrown out at the plate. Seiya Suzuki then struck out, so the Cubs had just one run to show for all that traffic.
Gausman settled down and retired 10 straight Braves from the last out of the first through the fourth. The Cubs extended their lead in the bottom of the fourth. Busch led off with a walk and Shaw’s infield single moved Busch to second.
Then this happened [VIDEO].
That throw… what was that? That play should have resulted in at least one out. Instead, Busch scored to make it 2-0 and Shaw wound up on third, where he scored on this sac fly by Miguel Amaya [VIDEO].
About the Cubs’ two-sac night, from BCB’s JohnW53:
The Cubs went into Tuesday with nine successful sacrifice bunts, tied with the Braves and Twins for the second fewest. The Tigers had eighth; the Yankees, 10.
The Cubs were 11th in sacrifice flies with 43, one behind the Braves and Royals.
Tuesday’s game was the first this season in which the Cubs had at least one of each. They had not done it since May 26, 2025. They had played 260 games since then before Tuesday.
So it’s 3-0 Cubs going to the top of the sixth. Gausman had been sailing along, but a one-out single by Drake Baldwin followed by a two-run homer by Ronald Acuña Jr. made it 3-2. Gausman gave up another hit and a hard-hit line drive out and then was removed in favor of Daniel Palencia, who ended the sixth with a fly ball to right.
The Cubs did not score in the bottom of the sixth and that’s when Webb entered the game. Honestly, I was surprised Craig Counsell didn’t just leave Palencia out there — he’d thrown only two pitches to retire Mauricio Dubon to end the sixth.
Webb, as I noted above, did not have a good game. The two-run homer he allowed to Ozzie Albies gave Atlanta a 4-3 lead.
Still, that’s not insurmountable — usually. But the Cubs bats went silent. After Shaw led off the sixth with a single, the next 12 Cubs went down in order.
Meanwhile, Edward Cabrera made his Cubs relief debut. And actually, it was going along pretty well until a two-run homer by Baldwin in the ninth put the game out of reach. Cabrera threw 40 pitches — maybe too many for his first outing out of the bullpen? I do still think Cabrera can be a useful weapon in relief. He touched 99 with his four-seamer several times, and that, combined with his 94 mile per hour changeup, can record outs — but again, maybe in shorter bursts.
Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame remarks [VIDEO].
In that clip, Counsell doesn’t sound like he’s going to take Webb out of that circle of trust, and he really needs to. He notes that the team is giving up “too many home runs.” Ya think? This cannot keep happening:
Fortunately, all the other teams in Wild Card competition with the Cubs — the Phillies, Padres and Diamondbacks — also lost Tuesday, so no ground was lost and the Cubs still have the top wild card spot by half a game over the Phillies. The Cubs lead the Padres by 1.5 games and the Diamondbacks by four. Arizona’s loss reduced the Cubs’ magic number to clinch a postseason spot to 6.
The Cubs still have a chance at a series win over the Braves Wednesday evening at Wrigley Field. Shōta Imanaga will take the mound for the Cubs and JR Ritchie, just recalled from Triple-A by Atlanta, goes for the Braves. Game time is again 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
