Athletics 4, Cubs 3: Just... not... quite... enough... again

The Cubs lost yet another one-run game.

The Cubs lost to the Athletics 4-3 Tuesday at Wrigley Field.

That makes them 21-28 in one-run games. Now, one-run games are not necessarily a predictor of a team’s success, but flip that record and the Cubs would be 84-67 and solidly in a wild-card spot. Even put it at .500ish at 24-25 and they’d still be competing for a postseason spot.

Sigh. There are a number of reasons for that bad one-run game record and we can slice and dice that to death when the season’s over. Hopefully team management does the same.

In the meantime, let’s look at this game.

Jordan Wicks gave up four first-inning home runs to the Dodgers in his last start. In this one... same old, same old as he allowed a two-run homer to Shea Langeliers after a single by Brent Rooker. So the Cubs were down by two before they came to bat.

And then they started leaving guys on base again. A two-out walk by Seiya Suzuki and single by Cody Bellinger came to nothing in the first when Isaac Paredes was called out on strikes.

Called out on strikes... on THIS pitch? You have got to be kidding, plate umpire Vic Carapazza.

That’s... not even close. Paredes just stood there at the plate for a bit, as perplexed as I was, and probably you were, at how bad that call was.

Please. Let’s get the ball-and-strike challenge system in place for the 2025 season.

The Cubs put two more on base in the second, but Christian Bethancourt hit into an inning-ending double play.

Wicks served up another homer, this one to Lawrence Butler, leading off the third to make it 3-0. He allowed more traffic on the bases in that inning but got out of it without further scoring.

The Cubs made it close in the third. Ian Happ led off the inning with this home run [VIDEO].

One out later, Suzuki singled and went to second on a single by Bellinger. A force play by Paredes followed, but then Michael Busch singled in the second run of the inning [VIDEO].

So it’s 3-2 and we’re still only in the third inning. Two innings later, though, Langeliers hit his second homer of the game to make it 4-2. If you’re counting — and yes, I was — that makes seven home runs allowed by Wicks in his last eight innings. Not sure what’s wrong here — tipping his pitches, maybe? — but this seems like something that needs to be fixed in the offseason.

Still, that’s just a 4-2 deficit and the Cubs still have five innings left. Unfortunately, the offense went MIA for most of that time. From the fourth through the seventh the Cubs had just two baserunners, a single by Nico Hoenrer in the sixth and one by Happ in the seventh. Neither got past first base.

In the eighth, Paredes drew a one-out walk. Miles Mastrobuoni ran for him, but was forced at second. Hoerner singled, his third hit of the game, putting the tying run on base, but Pete Crow-Armstrong struck out to end the inning.

Give the Cubs bullpen credit. Shawn Armstrong, Daniel Palencia and Jack Neely threw four shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out four. Palencia, in particular, looked good. It would be great if the Cubs could figure out how to get Palencia to do that on a regular basis, as he definitely has talent.

Armstrong got some help from Hoerner on defense when Nico made this outstanding leaping grab in the sixth [VIDEO].

Hoerner turned that into an inning-ending double play.

More good defense — this nice sliding grab by Happ for the first out of the ninth [VIDEO].

You heard it here: Happ’s going to win another Gold Glove.

So the game went to the last of the ninth still 4-2. Miguel Amaya struck out.

Then Happ smashed his second homer of the game [VIDEO].

That matched a career high for Happ; it was his 25th. Also, from BCB’s JohnW53:

Ian Happ’s two homers made him the 16th Cub to hit at least 150 in a career. Kris Bryant is 15th, with 160. Andre Dawson is 14th, with 174. A total of 26 Cubs have hit at least 100.

Also:

And thus it’s a one-run game with one out in the ninth. But those 100+ mile per hour pitches from Mason Miller were too much for the Cubs. Dansby Swanson grounded out and Suzuki struck out and the game was over. Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].

Not much more to be said here. The Cubs will go for the series win Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Justin Steele is expected to be activated from the injured list and start for the Cubs. Lefthander Brady Basso gets the call for the A’s. Game time is 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network (and MLB Network outside the Cubs and A’s market territories).