The Cubs made a rainy game interesting in the ninth, but hung on for a win.
You can be forgiven for thinking this, because I sure was: When Jorge López was greeted, in his first save opportunity as a Cub, with a home run by Addison Barger, I immediately thought: “Hey, Hector Neris could have done THAT!”
But unlike Neris in too many save opportunitiesr this year, López bore down and struck out the next three Blue Jays, including a pretty good hitter in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to end the game, and the Cubs had a hard-earned 3-2 win on a day when it would Just. Not. Stop. Raining.
I’ll get to that, but let’s rewind to the beginning of this game. After Justin Steele got himself in and out of trouble in the top of the first, Ian Happ sent the very first pitch he saw into the bleachers [VIDEO].
So the Cubs had a 1-0 lead on one pitch. About the leadoff homer, from BCB’s JohnW53:
Ian Happ’s home run was his second in eight days as the Cubs’ first batter of the game and his eighth overall, tying him with Brian McRae for fourth most in team history. Alfonso Soriano hit 22; Rick Monday, 17; and Dexter Fowler, 12.
That’s also 22 homers this year for Happ. His career high is 25, set in 2021. He’s got a real good chance to break that, and an outside shot at 30 if he gets hot. He could also break his career highs in runs and RBI, likely another 4 bWAR season, and he’s got a chance to win another Gold Glove.
And yet some of you still want to trade him. That would be a mistake.
After Steele retired Will Wagner in the top of the second, it started raining. And yes, it rained pretty hard and the grounds crew wasn’t quite ready and the infield got pretty soaked.
Steele retired the next two hitters to finish the second and then after Nico Hoerner sent this grounder to third on which Barger made a great stop [VIDEO], it started raining again.
The second delay lasted about 18 minutes, and yes they needed it, because yes, it was raining moderately and they didn’t want to risk having the field made unplayable. I saw some complaints about this delay on social media and sorry, unless you were at the game, those are unwarranted. The delay was necessary on a weird weather day when these little popup showers could get intense for a short time.
Here’s the best social media quip made during the delay:
After play resumed, Dansby Swanson doubled, but was stranded.
And then Steele didn’t come out for the third, which in my view was the right call. Too much up and down could lead to injury. Craig Counsell thus made this a bullpen game, and the bullpen did come through.
Nate Pearson threw a scoreless third and fourth, though he did load the bases on a double and pair of walks. He got out of it on a strikeout and fly to right. Pearson has talent and I think this is going to turn out to be a good acquisition.
After Tyson Miller threw a scoreless fifth, the Cubs got to work offensiely again. Swanson singled and went to second on a beautiful drag bunt by Pete Crow-Armstrong. Swanson was forced at third on an attempted sacrifice by Miguel Amaya, but both remaining runners scored on this triple to deep center by Michael Busch [VIDEO].
As you can see, the sun had come out again by then, and Busch’s drive missed being a three-run homer by maybe three feet.
Next up pitching-wise was Julian Merryweather, who threw a scoreless sixth with one hit allowed.
In the seventh, Drew Smyly, who’s been very good in relief, took over. He was not good on this day. A leadoff single was followed by a fly out, but two more hits plated a Toronto run to make it 3-1. And it might have been worse if not for Amaya throwing out George Springer at third on an attempted double steal [VIDEO].
Porter Hodge then entered and got Guerrero to fly to center to end the inning.
The Cubs had an attempt to increase the lead in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, PCA drew a walk and Amaya reached on an error.
Happ then tried a safety squeeze and... oh, no, PCA! I don’t have video for you but he was caught in a rundown and tagged out. It was ruled a caught stealing, PCA’s first of the season after 23 successful steals. That means the Cubs franchise record for most steals without being caught in a full season remains eight, by Moises Alou (2002) and Bill Nicholson (1942). (There’s a good trivia question for you.)
Hodge allowed a couple of Jays baserunners in the eighth but got out of the inning scoreless and the Cubs went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.
And then, Lopez. The home run, you’ve already read about and that’s where we began this recap. But Lopez then struck out the side, wrapping up the win with a K of Guerrero [VIDEO].
Not sure if you can tell in that clip, but it started raining AGAIN just as the ninth was beginning, and actually rained a bit hard for a few minutes. There was no way they were going to hold up play at that point, though.
If you want to open the complaint department door about Counsell’s decision to lift Steele, I suggest you watch this first [VIDEO].
The bullpen did a good job: Seven innings, seven hits, two runs, seven strikeouts. It worked, so ... closing the complaint department door for that, anyway. The Cubs’ record in one-run games, which isn’t great, did improve to 19-25 with this win.
The Cubs, thus, have a chance to sweep this series Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field, where it... probably will not rain. Shōta Imanaga gets the start for the Cubs, and hopefully can go deep into the game to save the pen. Bowden Francis will start for Toronto. Game time is again 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
