It took exactly one day for the Cubs’ ace to sustain what may be a significant injury, for their closer to blow a save, for the umpires to significantly impact the outcome of a critical play (this time in the Cubs’ favor), for Christopher Morel to miss a 10th inning grand slam by a few feet before leaving the bases loaded, and for their first extra-innings walk-off loss. Baseball sure is back, eh?
Drew Smyly was the pitcher on the mound when the winning run scored (remember, though, a free runner started the inning on second base), and he came in after Craig Counsell had already used Julian Merryweather, Yency Almonte, Mark Leiter Jr. (for 1.2 IP), Hector Neris, and Adbert Alzolay, who blew the save in the first place. So, even if you wanted to play the what-if game tonight (and I don’t), it’s not like Counsell didn’t go to his most trustworthy guys already.
Besides, Counsell had some subtle, but impressive managerial moves earlier in the night, particularly when he basically forced Nick Madrigal to interrupt Hector Neris (and the game), so that everyone/the umps saw the intentional walk call he was making from the dugout.
Anyway, the story of tonight is not the loss — frustrating as it is to blow a winnable game (especially when you were handed a gift by the umpires) — it’s Justin Steele. If this is serious/significant in any way, it’ll be a major blow to the Cubs, who don’t have any other starter of his caliber on the roster or in the organization. At least none that are ready to fill those shoes. So if you take away anything tonight, that’s it.
But there was some good stuff tonight too and I don’t want to ignore it. For one, that was a really incredible game. I know it sucks that the Cubs lost, but that was one fun-as-hell way to kick off the season. Really wild stuff.
More specifically, Christopher Morel had a really good night at the plate. Not only did he get results (2-5, 3B, R), but his approach seemed calm and controlled. He had really strong plate appearances more often than not tonight. Michael Busch was also a bright spot. He reached base three times and his hustle is what tied the game up for the Cubs in the first place. Also, my GOD that guy can take a pitch. He has a very good sense of the strikezone and a lot of control. Nice to see.
Beyond that, Mark Leiter Jr. had his splitter working, and had a good outing (a couple of deep fly ball outs notwithstanding). And Cody Bellinger looked good and came through with two strikes.
On the flip side, Yency Almonte could not locate his sweeper, whipping it way across and out of the zone. And when he over-corrected, Adolis Garcia took him WAY out (rightfully pimping the hell out of it, too). Nico Hoerner had an error and also some ugly swings. Nick Madrigal booted a ball at third. Adbert Alzolay blew the save. And, again, Justin Steele got hurt.
More negatives than positives tonight, but I am happy to have baseball back. This is what we signed up for. I guess.
OH, by the way? Travis Jankowski has been in MLB since 2015. In case that question wanders into your mind after seeing this:
Full Box Score.
