Blue Jays 1, Cubs 0: Another offensive failure

Shōta Imanaga and the rest of the Cubs pitched well enough, but could not score.

It’s kind of sad when the best thing that can be said about an afternoon at Wrigley Field is that It. Finally. Stopped. Raining.

The sun came out, at last, but that did not help Cubs hitters and they lost 1-0 to the Blue Jays, the 12th time they’ve been shut out this year and the second 1-0 loss in the last month (also July 23 to the Brewers).

A bit more on 1-0 losses from BCB’s JohnW53 before I get to the meat of this recap:

This was the Cubs’ 269th loss by 1-0 in regular-season games since 1876. It was their fifth against an American League team and the first of those in which the run scored on a home run. They have lost 45 games by 1-0 to NL teams on a homer, most recently to the Cardinals, at home, when Albert Pujols homered on Aug. 22, 2022,

Today’s loss was only the Cubs’ 118th by 1-0 at home, where they have won 168 such games. They have won 277 in all by 1-0, including 56 on a homer.

You know, I walked out of Wrigley Field feeling like the Cubs had lost the series, even though that’s not the case, they did win two of three. But this one was immensely frustrating.

Shōta Imanaga had a rough first inning, with a walk, a single and some long counts, 32 pitches, although he got out of it scoreless.

With two out in the second, Joey Loperfido homered into the right field patio area. That was a heck of a blast, considering the wind was howling in from center field, reported as 15 miles per hour in the boxscore but it felt stronger.

Look at the height and distance of that homer [VIDEO].

That ball might have hit the video board without the wind.

Loperfido came into this game batting .146 with no homers in 43 at-bats with 19 strikeouts. Yikes.

Bowden Francis, who one-hit the Angels for seven innings in his last outing, retired the first 10 Cubs he faced Sunday afternoon before Michael Busch laid down a nice bunt for a single and Seiya Suzuki also singled. Cody Bellinger then popped up, but Nico Hoerner reached on an error to load the bases.

Unfortunately, Dansby Swanson was called out on strikes. Borderline 1-2 pitch, but it was a strike:

Imanaga had thrown a lot of pitches, so he was removed after five innings and 97 pitches, 69 strikes, which is pretty good. Despite all the long counts, Imanaga walked only one and struck out six. That’s a decent enough outing. He did get some defensive help from Swanson in the third [VIDEO].

Julian Merryweather threw a 1-2-3 sixth, but the Cubs also went down in order in that inning.

Then Ethan Roberts made an appearance — his first since July 30, 18 games ago. Roberts threw two scoreless frames, though he allowed a lot of traffic on the bases, two walks in the seventh and two hits in the eighth. If he threw a straight fastball I missed it; he seemed to throw nothing but sliders and cutters. It was pretty effective and I’d like to see him used more often.

In the seventh, Hoerner doubled with one out but Swanson struck out again, and he was not happy about the call, but as you can see, it was definitely a strike:

Not sure what Dansby was unhappy about there.

In the bottom of the eighth, Ian Happ walked with two out. Isaac Paredes was sent up to face lefty Genesis Cabrera. Paredes had been scratched from the starting lineup due to “shoulder discomfort” but I guess he was deemed okay to pinch-hit. He struck out swinging.

Hector Neris entered to throw the ninth; there were scattered boos at Wrigley Field after his spectactular blown save on Friday. Neris allowed a pair of singles, but got out of the inning scoreless.

Chad Green, who had allowed the game-winning hit to Suzuki on Friday, came in to close for Toronto. Suzuki hit the ball well and on another day it might have been a game-tying homer, but on this day it was an out to mid-center field.

Bellinger singled, putting the tying run on base. Hoerner flied to right, though it was not an easy play for George Springer with the sun and wind.

Then, while Swanson was batting, Bellinger stole second. Okay, the tying run is now in scoring position.

Unfortunately, that’s where it was left as Swanson grounded out to end the game [VIDEO].

The Cubs got good pitching in this game and allowed just the one run. But the offense, once again, could not get untracked. You have heard this song before.

Again, there remains time in this season, this loss isn’t the end of the world. The Cardinals, Reds and Mets also lost Sunday, so the Cubs lost no ground to them. At the time this recap posted, the Giants and A’s were tied 1-1 in the seventh; if the A’s can win that would mean the Cubs lost no ground to most of the teams they are chasing, the only exception possibly being the Braves, who lead the Angels 2-1 in the seventh at posting time.

The Cubs have Monday off and then will begin a series against the Detroit Tigers at Wrigley Field Tuesday evening. At this time there are no starting pitchers listed for either team for the upcoming series. Jameson Taillon last pitched on the 14th, so he’d be on five days’ rest for Tuesday, but there’s no official announcement yet. Game time Tuesday is 7:05 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.