Tatis clutch as Padres take down Cubs |
CHICAGO - Despite the Chicago Cubs (13-10) arguably getting off to a better start than anyone anticipated, their play at home hasn't been great, as they are currently under .500. Granted, the weather and some of the opponents they have seen have something to do with that, but the Cubs need to improve at home for them to reach their full potential.
Facing a losing homestand with one more loss, the Cubs were looking to make it two straight against a struggling San Diego Padres (13-13) club still trying to find its way this season. Coming off a season in which they made it to the NLCS, expectations were extremely high this season, especially when you add a guy like Xander Bogaerts via free agency. Throw in the return of Fernando Tatis Jr, and this team has about as loaded of a lineup as anyone, which will make them a tough out for anyone. If there was one flaw on the Padres roster, you have to look at their starting pitching, as they have struggled in that category. One of those guys struggling is Michael Wacha, who entered the game with an ERA north of 7.00. Facing off against Drew Smyly, who flirted with perfection last time out, Wacha knew he had to be at his best and delivered his best start of the season by allowing three runs on four hits in five innings of work. That is a massive improvement from his previous starts, but he still left the game trailing as Smyly had another great start. Unlike his last outing, where Smyly cruised through seven innings, his pitch count got him in trouble as he only managed to give the Cubs five innings. In those innings, Smyly continued to do his thing allowing two runs on four hits to go with four strikeouts. His ERA is now 3.21 for the season, but a pair of late RBI hits from Tatis Jr off the Cubs pen did them in as the Padres evened the series and guaranteed a losing homestand for the Cubs 5-3. No one was expecting Smyly to go out and dominate the way he did against the Dodgers, but through three innings on Wednesday, the Padres managed to grab one hit off of him, with Jose Azocar picking up a third-inning single. The problem for the Cubs offense was having Wacha pitch like the good old days in St. Louis, with Nelson Velazquez providing the only hit through three innings. With the game tied 0-0 in the fourth, the Padres lineup seemed more comfortable against Smyly and started to get some excellent swings off of him. Two out singles from Bogaerts and Nelson Cruz had the Padres in business, but Jake Cronenworth did the damage as his RBI triple to the right field corner put the Padres in front 2-0. Fortunately for the Cubs, that lead didn't last long as the top half of their lineup started to put better at-bats together against Wacha the second time through. Like the Padres, the Cubs saw their first two batters retired in the inning until Seiya Suzuki kept things alive with a single. That set the stage for the suddenly hot Trey Mancini, who took an off-speed pitch from Wacha and deposited it over the left field fence to bring things back to even 2-2. Trey Mancini - Chicago Cubs (3)
Knowing that Smyly's day was ending, the Cubs wanted to reward him for a job well done and hoped a leadoff walk from Patrick Wisdom would help. There is an old saying that leadoff walks will come back to haunt you, and this one did with Nico Hoerner making it 3-2 using an RBI single to extend his on-base streak to 21 straight games. Nico knocks in a run! 💥@nico_hoerner extends his on-base streak to 21 consecutive games! pic.twitter.com/YCsLAkTU8G Wacha finished the inning without further damage, as it was now a battle of the bullpens. You saw both teams pitch in and out of trouble in the sixth, with Adbert Alzolay working around a double in his half of the inning and Nick Martinez working around a pair of singles from Mancini and Eric Hosmer to keep things 3-2. Once the seventh inning rolled around, the Cubs bullpen lost their touch as the inconsistent pitching from the back end continued. Alzolay started the seventh inning, but after a leadoff walk to Ha-Seong, Kim was removed for Brandon Hughes. Hughes walked the first hitter while Azocar dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third. Those are the situations that Tatis Jr lives for, and at this moment, he had the advantage as his RBI single off of Hughes gave the Padres the lead again, and they wouldn't look back. Tatis Jr would add another RBI single off Julian Merryweather in the ninth to extend the Padre's lead to 5-3 as it was time for Josh Hader to come on for the save. Through two batters, it looked as if Hader would plow through the Cubs order quickly until Yan Gomes kept the inning alive with a double. Entering the game Wednesday, Hader was a perfect 8-8 in saves while sporting a microscopic 0.91 ERA. That was followed by a terrific at-bat from Velazquez, resulting in a walk as the Cubs had two on for their best hitter in Hoerner. The perfect guy to have at the plate in this situation didn't work out in the Cub's favor as Hader got Hoerner to pop out into foul territory as he closed the door on the Cubs 5-3 for his ninth save in as many tries. The Cubs had eight hits in the game, with Mancini leading the way with two hits and two RBIs. The Cubs will look to salvage the series tomorrow afternoon when they send Hayden Wesneski to the hill against Seth Lugo. The first pitch is set for 1:20.
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