What a strange little game this was, the Cubs’ 2-1 loss to the Nationals Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
Matthew Boyd’s first three pitches all became hits by Washington hitters, producing a run. Then a fourth hit in the inning loaded the bases, and things did not look good early.
But Boyd got out of that inning with just the one run allowed, and he gave up just three more hits the rest of the way, eventually retiring 15 of the last 16 batters he faced. Unfortunately, one of those three remaining
hits was a home run by Daylen Lile, and with the Cubs not taking advantage of tons of baserunners, that was the difference in the game.
The problem was that the Cubs did not convert seven walks into anything. They had leadoff walks in the first, sixth and seventh innings, and you know how we’ve discussed how leadoff walks generally lead to bad things for the team allowing them. Not this time. The Cubs hit into double plays in each of those innings, wasting all those baserunners.
They did tie the game in the second. Pete Crow-Armstrong led off with a double, took third on a ground out by Nico Hoerner, and scored on this ground out by Carson Kelly [VIDEO].
Unfortunately, after that the Cubs struck out six straight times in the third and fourth innings, and Lile’s home run gave Washington the lead in the top of the fourth.
In the sixth after the aforementioned double play, Seiya Suzuki singled and PCA walked.
That walk didn’t come until after this, though [VIDEO].
PCA fouled a pitch off his right knee. He completed the at-bat, drawing the walk, and stayed on base while Nico grounded out to end the inning.
But Kevin Alcántara entered the game for defense in the top of the seventh. After the game, it was reported that X-rays were negative and PCA just had a contusion. He’s day-to-day. Alcántara might have been likely to start Sunday anyway, as the Nats have a lefthander going. Here’s PCA on the injury:
The Cubs drew another leadoff walk in the seventh, as noted, another double play followed. They went out 1-2-3 in the eighth. The Cubs did get good relief work from Drew Pomeranz (1-2-3 eighth) and Daniel Palencia (1-2-3 ninth). It was especially good to see Palencia have an easy inning after some of his recent struggles.
In the ninth, I was a bit surprised to see Justin Turner sent up to bat for Alcántara. At a certain point, why not give the kid a chance? Turner popped up. In any case, had the Cubs tied the game, the Cubs would have likely had to move Willi Castro to center, put Suzuki in right and lose the DH — with only Reese McGuire and an injured Kyle Tucker on the bench.
In any case, Nico singled after Turner’s pop-up and stole second as Kelly struck out for the second out. So the tying run was in scoring position. But Castro flied to center to end the game.
All told, it wasn’t a bad outing for Boyd [VIDEO].
There just wasn’t enough offense. Or, in reality, there was, with all those walks — but the double plays just killed the Cubs’ chances.
A couple of notes: Boyd set a Cubs franchise record with his two pickoffs in this game. From BCB’s JohnW53:
Boyd’s second-inning pickoff was his ninth and the one in the fifth was his 10th of the year.
That breaks the Cubs’ single-season record of nine, set by Larry Cheney and Charlie Smith in 1913.
Zip Zabel had eight in 1914.
Three others had seven: Mitch Williams in 1989, Kerry Wood in 2001 and Kyle Hendricks in 2017.
Here’s the second pickoff, the record-breaker:
And more from John on all the double plays:
The Cubs hit into three double plays today.
They had not hit into any in their last four games, and into only three in their 11.
They began the day with 61, eight fewer than any other team. The Guardians had 69, then Rangers had 79.
Last one from John on all the walks and hardly any hits:
The Cubs had finished only 37 previous games since 1901 with at least seven walks and no more than three hits. The most recent was on April 4 of this year, in a 3-1 win over the Padres at home.
They also did it in the final game of last season, a 3-0, 10-inning loss at home to the Reds.
They had three hits and seven walks in both of those games, the same as today.
This was the 13th such game of the century. The Cubs are 4-9 in those games. Since 1901, they are 7-28.
The Cubs will try for meatloaf again Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field. They are going with Drew Pomeranz as an opener, likely followed by Aaron Civale or Colin Rea. The Nats will start rookie Andrew Alvarez, who will be making his second MLB start. Game time Sunday is again 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
