Game Recap: Cubs swept by Astros despite Suzuki's career day |
HOUSTON - There are certain losses that hurt more than others during the Regular season, and Wednesday night was one of those for the Chicago Cubs (19-24) at Minute Maid Park. Leading the Houston Astros (24-19) 6-1 after another dominating start by Drew Smyly, it was up to the Cubs bullpen to hold down the fourth and escape Houston with one win.
The bullpen has been an issue for this team all season, and until the front office addresses that problem from outside the organization, nothing will change. Not only did the Cubs allow a pair of eighth innings runs, but they allowed four more in the ninth and recorded just one out. The last two came off the bat of Kyle Tucker as he took a Brandon Hughes single up the middle to deliver the walk-off 7-6 win. This was a bad loss for the Cubs and one that could send them into an even bigger tailspin than they are currently in. They wasted a great night from Miles Mastrobuoni, who reached base four times, Seiya Suzuki, who reached base five times with a pair of homers, and Smyly, who is challenging Justin Steele as the best pitcher on the staff. Facing off against a rookie in JP France who has given up next to nothing in two starts, Smyly knew he needed to be at his best, and boy, did he deliver. The left-hander was about as dominant as anyone has seen him this season, giving the Cubs six innings of one-run, four-hit ball. He walked none and stuck out eight to lower his ERA to 2.86. Even with that kind of outing, given the way the Cubs bats have struggled the past few weeks would it be enough to get past France and the Stros? That question was answered in the first inning as the Cub's offense set the tone for what would be a long night for France. A leadoff walk to Christopher Morel is always a good sign, as is an RBI triple from Dansby Swanson to make things 1-0. Swanson would trot home on an Ian Happ sacrifice fly as the Cubs built a 2-0 lead three batters in. That was followed up by the first of two Suzuki homers as the Cubs were all over France early, 3-0. Seiya Suzuki - Chicago Cubs (4)
As the fans have seen throughout this road trip, the Cubs have been giving up far too many first-inning runs, and with Alex Bregman delivering a solo shot in the first, that trend continued. However, unlike in previous games, Smyly was able to limit the damage as he allowed just two hits the rest of his outing. France continued to struggle in the second, allowing a Mastrobuoni double and a Morel single before escaping without any further damage. France was tagged for nine hits in the game as the Cubs had him timed up in a big way. The Cub's offensive onslaught continued into the third, and France wasn't so lucky this time. Once again, it was the top of the Cubs lineup, making things happen, with Happ leading things off with a double. That set the stage for Suzuki once more as he went deep for the second time in as many at-bats to push the lead to 5-1. Seiya Suzuki - Chicago Cubs (5) pic.twitter.com/chnwxTyEsx
Going back to Tuesday, Suzuki had three homers in three at-bats up to that point, as he is dialed in at the plate. Speaking of homers, all Morel seems to do is hit homers, and he added another one to his name in the fourth to push the lead to 6-1. Christopher Morel - Chicago Cubs (5)
Another Happ double followed that up, as did a Suzuki walk as France was lifted for Seth Martinez, who escaped without allowing any more runs. That was the turning point in the game, as the Cubs didn't score the rest of the way. Knowing how much better the Astros pen is than the Cubs, it was going to be up to Smyly to carry the team, and he did that through his six innings before seeing his night end. Unfortunately, the Cub's offense couldn't do the same as they continued to have rare opportunities against the Houston pen only to come up empty when they needed the big hit. Holding their 6-1 lead in the seventh, David Ross had to figure out how to finish this game but had his best three relievers at his disposal. First was Adbert Alzolay, who, although he wasn't great in the seventh, managed to work around a pair of two outs singles to keep the Cubs in front by five. With Hector Neris on to pitch the eighth for Houston, the Cubs once again had a chance for more, with Suzuki picking up a two-out walk ahead of the Patrick Wisdom double, only to come away empty once more. The MVP of the Cubs pen this season has been Mark Leiter Jr, who was on to work the eighth. After being released in the offseason, only to be brought back, Leiter pitched so well this spring that he earned an opening-day roster spot. Not only that, but he has been their best left-handed reliever, and the guy isn't even left-handed. For the first time in five days, Ross was going to allow Leiter to get some righties out in an effort to earn more trust. Things didn't go well for him as Jeremy Pena led the inning off with a triple before scoring on the Bregman double. Leiter did manage to bounce back with a pair of strikeouts, but Jose Abreu also added an RBI single to pull Houston to within 6-3. For the third time in four innings, the Cubs had a pair of runners on base in the ninth and once again couldn't push any of them across. That proved to be the difference late as Keegan Thompson took the ball in the ninth to try and lock down the save. Despite his 2.95 ERA this season, Thompson hasn't been good and has looked like a shell of his 2022 version. His struggles continued in the ninth, with Yainer Diaz singling on the first pitch he saw. Things only got worse from there as Jacob Meyers took Thompson deep to the left, and suddenly, we had a 6-5 game. A walk to Mauricio Dubon followed that homer, which was all Ross needed to see as he went back to the pen and brought in Brandon Hughes. Much like what happened with Thompson, Hughes struggled with Pena jumping on him early and ripping a double into the left field corner, putting runners on second and third with no outs. “It’s a punch to the gut,” Thompson said in postgame. “It’s hard. It just sucks to let the team down.” Following an intentional walk to load the bases, Hughes got Yordan Alvarez to ground into a force-out, with Mastrobuoni cutting a run down at home. Not out of the woods yet, Hughes was a ground ball away from getting out of the inning, but the Astros had the last laugh. Looking to play hero was Kyle Tucker, and the left delivered with an RBI single to Morel up the middle to bring home the game-winning runs in what was a 7-6 comeback win for Houston. The Cubs reviewed the play at home, but their challenge was unsuccessful, as they were swept out of Houston in a painful manner. Kyle Tuckler WALKS IT OFF‼️ Your Houston Astros SWEEP the Chicago Cubs💍🏆 pic.twitter.com/YjUvyDSTZD
“We’ve got to win that game,” Cubs manager David Ross said to reporters after the game. “We’ve got to pitch better on the back end. The offense did enough tonight. We played good defense. I thought overall, really nice plays. We’ve got to cash that one in.”
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