A pinch-hit grand slam by Patrick Wisdom won this game for the Cubs. (No, I did not make that up.)
Hey, look! The Cubs beat the Royals 9-4 Saturday evening mainly on the strength of Patrick Wisdom’s pinch-hit grand slam in the seventh inning, and in so doing scored as many runs in this game as they had in all seven previous games since the All-Star break combined.
And I know this is supposed to be a happy recap and oh yes, it will be, but this game was also infuriating because you saw within: Timely hitting, good defense and good relief pitching and that raises the question: Why can’t this group of players do this all the time?
We’re probably never going to get an answer to that question, are we.
Instead, let’s look back at this well-played Cubs game, because, well, there haven’t been too many of those lately.
The Cubs didn’t waste any time taking the lead in this game. Michael Busch walked with one out and Seiya Suzuki launched his 15th home run of the year [VIDEO].
That ball was crushed! [VIDEO]
So the Cubs managed to accomplish, within 17 pitches — against a pretty good pitcher, mind you, Seth Lugo — something they had failed to do in an entire game Friday, that is, cross the plate.
In the bottom of the first, Christopher Morel made a nice defensive stop that’s worth a look [VIDEO].
Shōta Imanaga gave one run back in the second on a home run by Hunter Renfroe, but the Cubs got that one right back in the third. And that’s something that’s been missing from this team for a while — recently, they’ve taken leads, given them up and not come back and padded them.
This time they did. Pete Crow-Armstrong smacked a triple into right-center, and one out later scored on this ground out by Michael Busch [VIDEO].
The Royals then started to hit a tiring Imanaga in the bottom of the sixth. Maikel Garcia led off with a single and Bobby Witt Jr.’s double drove him in — but the Cubs got Witt out on a TOOTBLAN [VIDEO].
The play was reviewed but ruled “call stands.” That turned out to be an important play in that inning, because after a second out, Salvador Perez singled. That was it for Imanaga, replaced by Julian Merryweather, who immediately gave up a double and single, the latter of which plated two runs and gave the Royals a 4-3 lead. It might have been a lot worse if Witt had not been out. Merryweather did record the third out to keep the deficit at one.
You could have been forgiven if, right at that point, you had your head down thinking sad thoughts about this game.
In the top of the seventh, Morel and Mike Tauchman singled and Dansby Swanson walked to load the bases. (Truth be told, at least one of the pitches called a ball to Swanson was probably a strike, and that was the case much of the night from plate umpire Adrian Johnson, but the Cubs will take it.)
Miguel Amaya flied to center, but too shallow to score a run.
The Royals called on lefty Sam Long to replace Lugo, so Craig Counsell sent Wisdom up to bat for PCA.
It took just four pitches for Wisdom to smash a very, very long and very, very welcome home run [VIDEO].
That ball was absolutely demolished! [VIDEO]
Long had faced 88 batters this year prior to Wisdom and only one of them had homered. For Wisdom, it was the sixth pinch-homer of his career and the first pinch grand slam for the Cubs since David Bote’s famous ultimate slam against the Nationals Aug. 12, 2018.
More from BCB’s JohnW53:
It was the Cubs’ 29th pinch-hit grand slam. The others this century:
June 5, 2001: Julio Zuleta (made score 12-5)
May 28, 2004 (first game): Michael Barrett (5-4)
May 19, 2007: Derrek Lee (11-6)
May 7, 2010: Mike Fontenot (14-4)
May 11, 2012: David DeJesus (4-1)
Aug. 12, 2018: David Bote (4-3 walk-off)Prior to Wisdom’s grand slam, with the bases loaded and one out this season, the Cubs were batting .160/.161/.200, for an OPS of .361, with a double, three singles and 12 strikeouts in 25 at bats. They also had five sacrifice flies.
Six of the seven Cubs runs to that point were charged to Lugo — the most he’s allowed in any game this year. One swing turned a 4-3 deficit into a 7-4 lead. Could the Cubs hold it? You’ve been following this team long enough this year to know that was not a rhetorical question.
The Cubs chose to put the pitcher in the batting order and move Tauchman to center field from DH for the bottom of the seventh. That move would actually help provide a couple more runs later on. In the meantime, Merryweather got the first two outs in the seventh sandwiched around a walk. Porter Hodge relieved Merryweather and finished off the inning. No one scored in the eighth, with Hodge throwing a 1-2-3 inning. Hodge has quickly morphed into a setup role on this team and has done well with it.
In the ninth, Tauchman and Swanson led off with singles and moved up one base each on a sac bunt by Miguel Amaya.
We were speaking of Bote before, and as the pitcher’s spot was up next, Bote was sent up to bat for Hodge. He singled in the Cubs’ eighth run [VIDEO].
Swanson took third on the play and scored on this ground ball by Nico Hoerner [VIDEO].
That was really poor fielding by Royals third baseman Garcia, who probably could have easily turned an inning-ending double play. Instead he threw offline to the plate and Swanson was safe.
Hector Neris was warming up in a save situation and came in anyway with a five-run lead. He allowed a leadoff single but then retired the next three hitters to end the game. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].
You have seen these players do this before. Again, the unanswerable question: Why can’t they do this all the time?
Before I get to today’s game info, one other thing I noticed on the broadcast: Craig Counsell wore a jersey instead of his usual pullover. That’s the first time he’s done that all year, I think. For superstition’s sake, at least, he should probably do it again Sunday.
The Cubs can actually win this series! They’ll try to do that Sunday afternoon. Javier Assad will start for the Cubs and Cole Ragans gets the call for the Royals. Game time is 1:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
Today’s BCB game preview will post at 11 a.m. CT.
