Game Recap: Cubs fall to Nationals |
Dustin Riese
· · 10 hours ago
CHICAGO - The Washington Nationals (57-84) managed to accomplish something that no other team has done before, beat Matthew Boyd at Wrigley Field. The Chicago Cubs (81-61) left-hander came into Saturday's start riding a series of rough outings, but had a perfect 10-0 record at home this season.
That all changed on Saturday as Boyd got off to a rough start, bounced back, and left the game in a great position as he did his best to keep the Cubs in the game. The bigger problem was the Cubs' inability to hit with runners in scoring position, a problem that had persisted all season. However, after going 0-12 with runners in scoring position on the day, the Cubs dropped an ugly game to the Nationals, 2-1. Entering his start, there were a lot of concerns surrounding Boyd, especially when you look at how his last three starts have gone. Given his injury history and career high in innings pitched, some were wondering if the workload was starting to catch up to him at the worst time, which is something to monitor going forward. Those struggles continued during the first inning as the first three Nationals hitters reached base on just four pitches, with the Jorge Alfaro single giving Washington a quick 1-0 lead. In total, Washington had four hits in the inning and had the bases loaded, but it was Boyd who found a way to wiggle out of trouble as he managed to give the Cubs seven innings of two-run baseball, walking none and striking out three. Brad Lord, on the other hand, enjoyed a rare strong start, as pitching has been an issue for the Nationals all season. Sure, the four walks in 5 2/3 innings were a concern, but the seven strikeouts were a career high as he had the Cubs frustrated most of the day. Lord also allowed just two hits, with Pete Crow-Armstrong picking up the first of those hits with a leadoff double to begin the second. Armstrong advanced to third on the Nico Hoerner grounder before coming home on a Carson Kelly grounder to tie things up 1-1, which proved to be the only run of the day for the Cubs. The bigger concern is the overall health of PCA, as he left the game later after fouling a ball off his shin and was ruled out with a contusion. As shaky as things were in the early going for Boyd, he managed to make the adjustments he needed to make and allowed just three hits the rest of the way. The only problem was that one of those hits left the yard as Daylen Lile took him deep to begin the fourth and put Washington on top for good, 2-1. When you look at Lord and his seven strikeouts, it's hard to fathom that most of those came in a two-inning stretch as he struck out six straight hitters in the third and fourth before that run came to an end with a leadoff walk to Hoerner in the fifth. Willi Castro also worked a walk as part of that fifth, but as was the case all game, the Cubs couldn't get the hit they needed with men on base as Lord escaped the inning without damage. His sudden command struggles continued into the sixth with a leadoff walk to Michael Busch, only to have a costly double play erase the scoring threat. Seiya Suzuki followed that double play up with a single, which proved to be the final batter Lord would face. With PJ Poulin now on the mound, it was the patience of Armstrong showing up as he worked another walk to put a pair of runners on, only to have the same results they had all day. Two more walks to Kelly and Dansby Swanson had the Cubs in business once again in the seventh, but with a double play mixed in between the walks, the Cubs came away empty-handed yet again. From that point on, this became a battle of the bullpens as Drew Pomeranz and Daniel Palencia combined to strike out four in their two innings, while a scoreless eighth from Jose Ferrer put the Cubs in a tough spot as they needed to find a way to deliver late. Looking to cash in against Cole Henry in the ninth, it was the one-out single from Hoerner that got a runner on base and brought the winning run to the plate. Hoerner would steal second later in the inning as part of a Kelly strikeout, but with two outs, the pressure was now on Castro to deliver his biggest hit as a Cub. Although that hit never came, Castro still put a good swing on it, but it didn't matter as his game-ending flyout handed the Nationals the 2-1 win.
