Steele slammed as Red Sox pound Cubs |
CHICAGO - There haven't been many cases this year when you can say Chicago Cubs (43-49) Justin Steele has been lit up. The 2023 All-Star has been one of the Cubs most consistent pitchers all season and entered Sunday with a 9-2 record and sporting an ERA below 2.6.
Facing off against the Boston Red Sox (50-44) on Sunday in hopes of a series win, Steele showed he is human and had an outing that he hasn't had much of this season. Despite giving the Cubs six innings with six strikeouts, Steele was hit hard as he allowed 10 hits and surrendered six earned runs. That alone helped the Red Sox build an 11-0 lead against the Cubs at Wrigley Field before eventually coming away with an 11-5 win. While Steele struggled on the mound, Kutter Crawford didn't, as he delivered one of his best starts of the season. Gone are the days of Chris Sale and Nathan Eovaldi in the rotation, and in come some young promising arms the Red Sox have been waiting for. Crawford is one of those arms, as he matched Steele with six innings of work. Unlike Steele, Crawford battled through some command issues as he walked four but struck out nine. To make matters worse, Crawford allowed just one hit as the Cubs had no answers for him. It didn't take long for the Red Sox to grab the lead as Rafael Devers hit his third homer of the series just three batters in to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. That would be the game's only run for quite a while, as both pitchers were on top of their games early. Ironically, the lone hit against Crawford came from Mike Tauchman to lead off the bottom of the first, but nothing more came from that as he was stranded on the bases. Outside of that hit, the only baserunners the Cubs were able to muster came off of walks, as Crawford was as dialed in as he could be. That included a pair of walks from Miles Mastrobuoni and Tauchman to lead off the third, only to come away empty-handed. The same can't be said about Steele, as he had plenty of hard contact against him and even had to work out of a significant jam in the fourth inning. Devers was a significant part of that jam as he led things off with a lead-off double, only to be thrown out at home later in the inning by Ian Happ. That play was crucial as the Red Sox had three hits and an error off Steele that inning but couldn't extend their lead. The fifth inning is when things went south in a hurry for Steele and the Cubs, with Connor Wong starting things off with a double. That was followed by a pair of singles, including the RBI knock from Yu Change to make things 2-0. Another single from Justin Turner loaded the bases, but after retiring two consecutive hitters, Steele was on the verge of pitching out of a crucial jam. However, the Red Sox had other ideas as Masataka Yoshida took Steele deep for the Grand Slam and busted the game wide open 6-0. Alfaro added a single shortly after, but Steele bounced back to retire the final four hitters he faced before being removed from the game. Despite giving the Cubs six innings, those innings were far from perfect as he struggled for the first time in nearly two months. Having an offense that could only generate one hit through six innings didn't help, as Michael Rucker and the Cubs pen came on to pitch the seventh. Like in the fifth, the Red Sox kept the pressure on as a pair of walks from Turner and Adam Duvall put a pair of men on base. That set the stage for Yoshida, who not only tripled home a pair to make things 8-0 but scored on a wild pitch to push the lead to 9-0. That lead grew to 11-0 one inning later as Triston Casas got into one against Adbert Alzolay and took a pitch over the wall for the rare homer. Despite trailing by 11 on the scoreboard, the Cubs were not about to get shut out at home and began making some noise against Jake Faria in the eighth. Faria went on to walk the bases loaded three batters into the game before making it four straight with a walk to Nico Hoerner, putting the Cubs on the board. That walk was followed by a Christopher Morel single and a Patrick Wisdom sacrifice fly to make things 11-3, but no further damage came from what could have been a massive inning. Following a scoreless ninth from Tucker Barnhardt on the mound, the Cubs offense went back to work in their half of the ninth to at least keep things competitive. A one-out single from Trey Mancini started things off before he advanced to third. Down to their final out, the Cubs wouldn't go away quietly as the Tauchman single made things 11-4 before Hoerner picked up an RBI triple to make things 11-5. The game ended shortly after that triple as the Cubs opened up their 10-game homestand with a series loss to the Red Sox 11-5. The Cubs only had five hits in the game as they were outhit by the Red Sox 14-5. Tauchman led the way with two of those hits, while Morel, Hoerner, and Mancini picked up the other three.
