Nats lefthander MacKenzie Gore took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before it was broken up.
Kyle Hendricks deserved better.
This was his penultimate start at Wrigley Field as a Cub — presuming he’s not back next year, and I don’t think he will be — and for five-plus innings, Kyle threw pretty well, allowing just a single run in the second. Then he got in trouble with three little dinky hits in the sixth and a sac fly made it 2-0.
That brought in Keegan Thompson, who served up a three-run homer to Joey Gallo and that, pretty much, was that, and the Cubs lost the game 5-1, their first loss to the Nationals this year after five wins.. As for Gallo’s homer, from BCB’s JohnW53:
Cubs relievers have given up a home run in four straight games, a season high. They had done it in three straight twice, May 29-31 and Aug. 26-28.
Yuck. That, clearly, will be one of the things Craig Counsell will want addressed this offseason — the bullpen.
So Kyle’s pitching line — four runs in 5⅓ innings — doesn’t look that great, but two of those runs scored after he left the game.
The other story of this game was Nats starter MacKenzie Gore no-hitting the Cubs into the seventh inning. The Cubs did have baserunners, on a hit batsman (Michael Busch) and two walks (Busch and Patrick Wisdom), but the walks were immediately erased on double plays.
With one out in the seventh, Wisdom broke up Gore’s no-hitter and shutout with this no-doubt home run [VIDEO].
That ball was crushed! [VIDEO]
I’ve got to quibble a bit with that 421-foot measurement. That almost hit the bottom of the video board! Look at this homer from Thursday by Seiya Suzuki [VIDEO].
That one was measured at 425 and to me, it didn’t appear to go as far as Wisdom’s?
Yes, it’s a quibble, and basically I’m quibbling because there’s not much else to talk about from this game. After Wesneski shut down the Nats in the seventh and eighth, Trey Wingenter gave up a couple of little bloopy hits in the ninth but did not allow a run.
Ian Happ led off the ninth with a fly ball on which Jared Young made a nice grab [VIDEO].
The Nats announcer said it was Dylan Crews making the catch, but the Nats had made some outfield switches for that inning. It was Young.
After that, Dansby Swanson singled for the Cubs’ second, and only other, hit of the game. From BCB’s JohnW53:
Until Dansby Swanson singled in the ninth, the Cubs had made only one hit, a home run. They have finished just one game since 1901 with a homer as their only hit: a 6-1 loss at San Francisco, on April 16, 1960. Walt Moryn smacked a pinch-hit homer off Sam Jones, a former Cub, with two outs in the eighth inning.
This was the 514th regular-season game since 1876 in which the Cubs’ only run came on a homer. It was the fourth this season. The others were May 3 and June 30 vs. the Brewers, and July 29 vs. the Reds.
Sometimes you just gotta tip your cap to the other guy. MacKenzie Gore threw himself a great game, and Hendricks had no margin for error and Thompson’s home run ball to Gallo put this one out of reach.
With the loss, the Cubs’ 76th, if the Mets win their game against the Phillies this afternoon (currently tied in the sixth), the Cubs will be mathematically eliminated from the postseason.
One last story about this game before we move on. As most of you know, I like to put the Twitter lineups from both teams in my game previews. The Nats were waiting and waiting and waiting and then this tweet came across their feed:
Well. Why on Earth would they do that? CJ Abrams is a very good player who made the NL All-Star team this year and has posted 3.4 bWAR each of the last two years.
Here’s why they did that:
So Abrams went out to the casino after Thursday night’s game and stayed out all night... before a day game Friday. This is absolutely a punishment; Rochester’s season ends tomorrow so Abrams won’t play again this year. He’ll lose a week of major-league pay. A very interesting move by Mike Rizzo, a statement made about how guys should conduct themselves in MLB. Thought you’d like to know, if you hadn’t heard already.
This has been one of the most beautiful late September weeks in Chicago that I can remember. Unfortunately, that string seems likely to end Sunday:
Sunday
Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Steady temperature around 71. South southeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
That does not sound conducive to baseball. The game means nothing. There is no possible makeup date — the Nats are off Monday, but the Cubs are not, and the Nats play Thursday when the Cubs have an off day.
I would hope that if there’s no proverbial “window” to play baseball Sunday, MLB will be respectful to players, gameday staff and fans and cancel the game. Yes, I realize it would cost the Cubs some money, though season-ticket holders would likely just get a credit for 2025. We’ll see what they do in the morning.
If there’s a game Sunday at Wrigley, Shōta Imanaga will start for the Cubs and Jake Irvin will get the call for the Nats. Scheduled game time is 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
