Anthony Rizzo’s retirement and appearance to a joyful full house at Wrigley Field Saturday was fun and nostalgic.
Unfortunately, that presence — even having Rizzo get his hand on Moises Ballesteros’ first major league home run — wasn’t enough, and two other home runs given up by Cubs relievers gave the Rays a 5-4 win, ending the Cubs’ three-game winning streak.
Sara Sanchez will have more on the Rizzo festivities tomorrow morning, so let’s focus on the game. Colin Rea had a rough first inning, though
he got out of it scoreless, and was much better in the second, though he allowed a hit to Richie Palacios with two out. Then Rea picked off Palacios [VIDEO].
With one out in the bottom of the second, Ballesteros hit the aforementioned home run [VIDEO].
Hit right to Rizzo — that’s pretty amazing. Rizzo spent part of the game in the bleachers, and it did look like a fun time. Rizzo was the one who threw the home run ball back on the field so Ballesteros could have it.
Fun fact about Ballesteros’ blast from BCB’s JohnW53:
Moises Ballesteros became the 881st different player to hit a home run as a Cub in the team’s 22,403 regular-season games since 1876.
He is the eighth this season, following, alphabetically, Owen Caissie, Willi Castro, Carson Kelly, Reese McGuire, Matt Shaw, Kyle Tucker and Justin Turner.
They had six first-time home run hitters last year and 13 in 2023.
Rea continued to throw well for the next couple of innings. That included this terrific catch by Owen Caissie [VIDEO].
You can see Caissie and Pete Crow-Armstrong nearly collide, and Caissie wound up tumbling over PCA. Caissie remained in the game for two more innings, but came out in the top of the sixth. Here’s the scoop on what happened:
That’s really too bad for Caissie, who was just recalled earlier Saturday. If he has to go on the concussion IL, I assume Kevin Alcántara will return.
Meanwhile, the Cubs had extended their lead to 3-0 in the fourth with a nice two-out rally. Nico Hoerner singled and Ballesteros walked.
Dansby Swanson’s double plated both runners [VIDEO].
But the Rays clawed their way back into the game. A leadoff double and two-out single off Rea in the fifth made it 3-1, and Tampa Bay tied the game with two in the sixth. Rea was removed with one out and one run already in on a single and double. Drew Pomeranz got the second out, but allowed an RBI single to pinch-hitter Jake Mangum, with the run charged to Rea.
That’s where the game stayed until the bottom of the seventh, when Michael Busch homered with two out [VIDEO].
This, you would think, would have been an ideal situation for the current edition of the Cubs. One run ahead with a pretty good bullpen ready to lock things down… only they didn’t. Junior Caminero homered off Porter Hodge to tie the game in the eighth and then Brad Keller, who had not allowed a run since before the All-Star break, served up a solo shot to Nick Fortes leading off the ninth.
Hey, it happens. This bullpen has been really good lately. Today, they were not.
The Cubs still had a chance in the bottom of the ninth off Rays closer Pete Fairbanks. Swanson led off with a walk and stole second. Then when Willi Castro walked, Fairbanks threw a wild pitch that allowed Swanson to take third.
Then Matt Shaw hit a grounder to third and the contact play was on. I am not a big fan of that play, particularly when a fly ball could have tied the game. Swanson could have held close enough to third to keep the Cubs out of a double play. Instead, he was tagged out, so now there are runners on first and second with one out. Still, there’s the tying run in scoring position in the person of Castro.
Unfortunately, that’s where Castro stayed while Busch and Ian Happ struck out to end the game.
Truth be told, this game might have been a blowout loss. The Rays had 14 (!) hits and a walk and went 2-for-12 with RISP. Meanwhile, the Cubs were 1-for-8 with RISP, another failure to score runs and post a big enough lead to hold.
This loss isn’t the end of the world. This figured to be a tough game with the Rays’ best starter, Drew Rasmussen, on the mound. The Cubs hit Rasmussen well enough, but the Rays bullpen did their jobs and the Cubs relievers did not, and that, as they say, was that.
I’ll leave most of this to Sara, but here’s the pre-game ceremony honoring Rizzo [VIDEO].
Also, there’s one historical note from John to pass along:
Hoerner’s fourth-inning steal was the Cubs’ 150th this season. The last time they made a 150th theft was almost 35 years ago, on Oct. 1, 1990, when Shawon Dunston swiped second with two outs in the top of the ninth at Philadelphia in a game the Cubs lost, 7-6.
The Cubs still have a chance to meatloaf this series with a win Sunday. Shōta Imanaga will start for the Cubs and Adrian Houser will go for the Rays. Game time is again 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
