SAN FRANCISCO — These get harder and harder to write. Like “Groundhog Day,” it’s the same thing over and over and over and for one thing, I just don’t understand why Craig Counsell keeps sending the same lineup out there every single day and expecting different results. Shake it up just to shake it up! Do a Joe Maddon “867-5309” lineup! How much worse could things be, Craig?
Sigh. The Cubs lost to the Giants 4-3 Wednesday evening, their fourth in a row and they have now lost 13 of 19 since that brief two-game sweep of the White Sox, which seems like it was about 10 years ago, doesn’t it?
Let’s begin at the beginning. No one scored in the first inning of the first-ever MLB matchup of pitchers named “Hayden,” Wesneski and Birdsong, the latter making his major-league debut and firing baseballs at 98 miles per hour. We can still dream about the Cubs having guys like that. Maybe someday…
In the second inning, the Cubs got on the board. With one out, Ian Happ and Christopher Morel walked. Dansby Swanson struck out, but Pete Crow-Armstrong followed with this RBI single [VIDEO].
That was on the second pitch of the at-bat. The first pitch was fouled off behind the plate, and…
The ball bounced from somewhere behind where I was sitting, about 15 rows behind the plate, and somehow landed right in front of the seat in front of me, which was empty. I just picked it up, my first-ever foul ball at a game. Of course, sitting in the Wrigley bleachers I don’t get any chances at foul balls there, but that’s also quite a number of away games where none has come near me.
Anyway.
Wesneski coughed up the lead in the bottom of the inning, issuing a leadoff walk, then retiring the next two hitters. Just one more out… it didn’t happen. The next two Giants, Michael Conforto and David Villar, homered off Wesneski. That makes eight home runs in 45 innings for Wesneski this year, and worse, it’s six home runs in his last seven appearances covering just 11⅓ innings. Or, put another way: 50 batters faced in those seven games, six home runs. That’s … not good.
The Cubs did come back, though they left two on in the third. In the fourth, Christopher Morel singled and was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double. He was called safe on the field, but it was overturned on review [VIDEO].
It’s too bad because the Cubs got some more offense in that inning. Swanson flied to center for the second out but PCA then walked. On the first pitch to Miguel Amaya, PCA took off for second — which is why he was able to score from first on a single [VIDEO].
That is impressive speed and baserunning. I believe PCA should be using that speed even more than he is.
So it’s 3-2 Giants heading to the fifth, Wesneski completed the fourth without incident. Except for the two home runs, Wesneski threw well. (Yeah, I know, that’s an “Apart from that, how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?” statement.) He struck out seven.
With two out in the fifth, Seiya Suzuki tied the game [VIDEO].
Drew Smyly relieved Wesneski and promptly gave the Giants the lead back. He retired the first two hitters in the fifth and then Luis Matos homered.
Luis Matos. Who came into the game with a .593 OPS and two home runs in 96 at-bats.
Sigh.
The Cubs made some attempts to tie the game, but wound up with some TOOTBLANs instead. Morel led off the sixth with a walk but strayed too far off first and got picked off [VIDEO].
In the eighth, Cody Bellinger led off with a single but was erased on a double play. Ian Happ followed with a double, then HE got picked off [VIDEO].
I mean, I realize the Cubs are trying to be aggressive on the basepaths, but that is just too much. The tying run is already in scoring position!
Sigh, yet again.
The Cubs did get some good relief work from Porter Hodge and Keegan Thompson, both of whom held the Giants scoreless and kept the Cubs within one.
Swanson led off the ninth with a single and after PCA was called out on strikes, Miles Mastrobuoni was sent up to bat for Amaya.
Well. You know how I feel about Mastrobuoni, but there are times to put him in the game and times to not do that. This was one of the “not.” That situation screamed out for Patrick Wisdom to bat for Amaya — at least he has a chance of maybe hitting the ball out of the ballpark against Giants closer Camilo Doval. Mastrobuoni? Totally overmatched against Doval, I knew that when he came out of the dugout and Mastrobuoni hit a harmless pop flly to short left for the second out.
After that, Doval made a throwing error trying to pick off Swanson — hey, you can’t blame him for trying since the Cubs were TOOTBLANing all over the place — and he threw the ball away, putting Swanson in scoring position. But Hoerner grounded to short to end the game.
Sigh, once again. The Cubs went 1-for-7 with RISP and that would have been worse without all the outs on the basepaths.
Despite the two TOOTBLANs, it’s worth noting that Morel’s three walks on the night gave him a new career high, with 40, with half a season to go. That’s good! The rest of this game: Not good.
Don’t know what else to say. We have reached the halfway point in the Cubs’ season and they have 37 wins. I continue to believe they’re a better team than this, but… sheesh, they certainly appear to be trying to prove me wrong.
The Cubs will try to salvage the finale of this four-game series in an afternoon affair. Shōta Imanaga will start for the Cubs and Jordan Hicks will go for the Giants. Game time is 2:45 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network (and MLB Network outside the Cubs and Giants market territories). The BCB game preview will post at 12:30 p.m. CT.