The Cubs bounce back behind Matthew Boyd in a 5-2 win.
This team has been all over the place lately. World beaters one day and embarrassing the next. I’ve noted several times that as their starting pitching goes, so goes the game. That was evident here again. Matthew Boyd was dominant and until very late in the game, they dominated the game.
This one had a nice team contribution on the offensive side and Boyd doing the heavy lifting on the pitching side. Boyd throwing eight scoreless innings against the Yankees in New York is a terrific accomplishment. Of course eight innings also means that they have a fully armed bullpen heading into Sunday’s game, looking to add one more win heading into the break.
Despite the slowdown over the last month, this team remains on a pace to win 95.5 games. Even with everything the Brewers have done over the last month or so, I still can’t see them getting that high. I think this Cubs team is going to make a couple of significant trades and challenge 100 wins. I know that’s a lofty number, but I bought in on this team early and nothing about stacking 56 wins to this point has discouraged me.
Key Storylines:
- Starting Pitching: As already noted, Matthew Boyd was terrific.
- Relief Pitching: A rough couple of days. Brad Keller started the ninth with a five-run lead and pitched into trouble. Daniel Palencia slammed the door shut and nailed down the save.
- Homer Over Reliance: Five singles, a double, a triple and a homer. The homer was a solo shot. Four walks, a stolen base and a caught stealing. Some good sequencing produced five runs on a relatively mundane stat line.
- Third Base Production: Jon Berti was 1-3 with a walk, a stolen base and a caught stealing.
- Dansby Swanson: Batted sixth. 0-4. An RBI and a run scored.
- Opposing starter: Lefty. An All-Star no less. Knocked out after only three innings. One lefty relieved faced three batters and retired them all. PCA was hitless. Michael Busch didn’t play until after the starter left.
Pitch Counts:
- Cubs: 108, 33 BF
- Yankees: 135, 38 BF
Boyd had a chance at a Maddux, but the Cubs made a reasonable decision to get him out of the game after eight. This is a guy who hasn’t had a load like this since 2019. Even with the bump in the ninth, the team averaged just 12 pitches per inning. That’s getting it done. Boyd was only three batters over the minimum, then the bullpen added three more in the ninth.
The Cubs didn’t particularly throw the Yankees for a loop. 15 pitches per inning is not outrageous. It would give your pitcher a chance to at least start the seventh in the modern game. The Cubs did make the Yankees use five relievers. They could probably all throw again Sunday, but Scott Effross has thrown two straight. He’s probably not in the first circle of choices Sunday for the Yankees.
Three Stars:
- Matthew Boyd. Can’t say enough good things about him.
- Carson Kelly caught that game and added two hits, one a homer, and a walk. How do you massively improve your team? You have seemingly every player you added in the offseason have max production.
- Ian Happ had two hits and an RBI after dropping down to seventh versus lefties.
Game 95, July 12: Cubs 5, Yankees 2 (56-39)
Fangraphs
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Matthew Boyd (.297). 8 IP, 27 BF, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 6 K (W 10-3)
- Hero: Carson Kelly (.086). 2-3, HR, BB, 2 RBI, R
- Sidekick: Seiya Suzuki (.079). 1-4, 2B, R
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Pete Crow-Armstrong (-.071). 0-4
- Goat: Brad Keller (-.035). ⅓ IP, 4 BF, 2 H, 2 ER, HBP
- Kid: Jon Berti (-.015). 1-3, BB, SB, CS
WPA Play of the Game: Seiya Suzuki batted with a runner on first and no outs in the third inning, the Cubs up one. He doubled, sending the runner to third. (.100)
*Yankees Play of the Game: With runners at the corners, the Cubs up two in that third inning, Max Fried got PCA to hit a foul pop for the first out. (.044)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Yesterday’s Winner: Someone else was the winner (pretty clearly a proxy for no one) with 29 of 76 votes.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
- Kyle Tucker +32
- Matthew Boyd +20
- Shōta Imanaga +13
- Pete Crow-Armstrong +12.5
- Jameson Taillon/Miguel Amaya +11
- Matt Shaw -11.83
- Julian Merryweather -15
- Ben Brown -17
- Dansby Swanson -25.33
- Seiya Suzuki -26
Up Next: Once again, we have an early game. So I’ll direct you to Al’s pre-game coverage that will post at 10:30 a.m. CT. Shōta Imanaga (5-3, 2.80, 61 IP) starts for the Cubs. Will Warren (6-4, 4.70, 90 IP), a righty, starts for the Yankees. Find a way to win behind 2024’s ace and go into the break on a high note.
FYI, a first note that I will be on vacation from July 19 – 25. Al will write condensed Heroes and Goats in my absence. I’ll bring us up to speed when I return. If all goes well, I’ll write two extra pieces during the All-Star break. I’m looking to cover Seiya Suzuki’s confounding first half Heroes and Goats numbers. And I’m going to write a first half overview, including a full H&G standings and top/bottom WPA games of the first half.