The Cubs lost 3-0 to the Braves on a beautiful Thursday afternoon at Wrigley Field, and yes, I know you want to talk about Kyle Hendricks, and I’ll get to that, but the fact is, what The Professor did in his first appearance as a reliever in eight years it didn’t matter, because the Cubs had zero runs when he entered the game and had zero runs when he finished pitching and completed the game scoreless.
The thing is, I can’t believe this offense is THAT bad. They scored 16 runs in the seven-game home series and managed to win two of the games, one of them scoring just once. Almost every hitter on this team is hitting below their career standards. It’s unusual for all of a team’s hitters to do that at the same time, but that’s what’s happening. In the end it will end. Every crisis does it.
In fact, if you think this Cubs’ lack of scoring at home is unusual, it’s not. They had a seven-game stretch at home in September 2018 when they scored just 10 runs, somehow winning three of them. They did the same in late June and early July 2015. Both Cubs teams made the postseason.
I still think this Cubs team is good enough to make the playoffs. But they need to change the offense and quickly. During this homestand, the Cubs hit .149/.235/.228 (32-for-215) with nine doubles, one triple and two home runs, and there have been NO Cubs home runs since Friday, when Miguel Amaya homered In the eighth inning of a game the Cubs were losing 9-0. Oh.
Ben Brown did his part: four scoreless innings, allowing two walks and a single and striking out six. It’s a shame he wasn’t stretched enough to last longer. Here’s a look at Brown’s pitch selections (VIDEO).
Here are Brown’s six strikeouts (VIDEO).
The Cubs got a pair of runners with two outs in the third, one of them when Ozzie Albies fumbled a ball in the sun, but couldn’t score. Another runner in scoring position in the fourth, Ian Happ, was stranded.
Brown left for Hayden Wesneski in the fifth, and the first batter Wesneski faced, Jarred Kelenic, homered. Everyone could have gone home at that point, because, well, the Cubs didn’t seem likely to score. Wesneski did retire the rest of the batters he faced, five of them. He received defensive help on this nice play by Michael Busch to end the fifth (VIDEO).
Luke Littler faced four Braves and retired them all. That’s good.
The Cubs again put a pair of runners on base with two outs in the sixth. Ian Happ doubled and Nico Hoerner walked. But Michael Busch was called out on strikes to end the inning.
And then, Hendricks. Is rare. His velocity is good: he was hitting 88 with his fastball. His changeup was 80. These are numbers he achieved when he was doing well. For some reason it doesn’t work now. He allowed singles to the leadoff batter in both the eighth and ninth, and also issued a walk in the eighth. That helped Atlanta score two runs, putting the game out of reach. Hendricks reached a two-strike count against the first three batters he faced, but he was only able to eliminate one of them, Ronald Acuña Jr., with a strikeout (VIDEO).
That looked good! But it was followed by an RBI single and a sacrifice fly. I would love for this Professor in the pen thing to work, but… I don’t know, maybe it won’t work.
More on Kyle Hendricks, reliever, from BCB’s JohnW53:
Kyle Hendricks’ only previous relief appearance in the regular season came on July 7, 2016, when he pitched two scoreless innings at home against the Braves. He walked one and struck out four.
It came with two outs in the sixth, a runner on first and the Cubs trailing, 2-0. He popped out to end the inning; he got a walk, two fly balls and a 3-1 grounder in the seventh; and a fly out and a strikeout before being relieved in the eighth. The Cubs ended up losing, 4-3, in 11.
That was number 62 of the 254 games of his career to date.
All of that didn’t really mean anything, because after Busch struck out to end the sixth, the next nine Cubs fell in order, three by strikeout. They spent the entire afternoon looking at the plate completely indifferent. The Braves bullpen is good, but I don’t think it’s THAT good.
Eventually, the Cubs hitters will come out of this. Soon please. Meanwhile, I think Brown showed enough in this game, against a good lineup, to retain a spot in the rotation.
The Cubs travel to St. Louis to open a three-game series against the Cardinals on Friday night. Shōta Imanaga will start the series opener against St. Louis right-hander Miles Mikolas. Game time is 7:15 pm CT and television coverage will be on Marquee Sports Network.
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