Well THAT was a wild one. A scheduled 7-inning affair went 10 innings, with the Rockies finally pouring it on in the 10th against Jake Jewell, who had been called up as the 27th man, to end it.
Even against the Rockies outside of Coors Field, the Cubs couldn’t pull off the sweep. Shrug.
The Cubs got out to a big early lead – capped off by some fun on the bases – but it evaporated behind a Connor Joe grand slam and the Cubs’ bullpen struggling. But with one out and two on in the bottom of the 7th (aka the 9th), Ian Happ sent one into the basket in left center to tie it up and send the game to extras.
.@ihapp_1 offers up a game-tying 3-run blast! pic.twitter.com/Bss82OdZ93
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 26, 2021
In the bottom of the 8th, after scoring a run in the top of the frame, the Rockies got a groundball with two outs to end the thing … except Trevor Story threw the ball into next week. Tying run scores, and we’re on to the normal final inning of an MLB game.
Ah, but even that wasn’t enough to settle the thing! Adrian Sampson was dang good, and the Cubs bunted themselves out of an opportunity, so the 9th went scoreless. Then the 10th happened, da Jewells got knocked around, and the Cubs lost.
Oh yeah, a Justin Steele start! That was a few hours ago. While the Rockies are not anything close on the road to what they are at home, they do still have a lineup full of guys who do particularly well against lefties. So it was a tougher match-up tonight for Steele than it might have seemed. Wildness didn’t help, and although Steele was getting plenty of whiffs, he was also giving up too much hard contact (and a couple walks). Efficiency is going to be the challenge for him, because he’s just flat out a strikeout pitcher. He is at his best (right now) going for strikeouts. But that comes with the risk of counts where you didn’t get those early swings and misses, so you’re behind, you have to come back into the zone, and sometimes you get hit hard (to say nothing of the efficiency/walk issues it can present). Still love the pitches and the makeup; it’s just still a TBD on whether he’s a starter or a high-leverage/multi-inning reliever.
Nice to see Rowan Wick look like his solid self out there tonight. Felt like we hadn’t seen that yet since he came off the IL.
