Cubs hang on for 6-5 win over Brewers.
Florida man eschews sleeves. News at 11.
Jameson Taillon was on the hill and for the fourth straight time, looked excellent. Taillon, Mark Leiter Jr. and so many other guys through the years. These are names of people who Cub fandom wanted to jettison, likely way too early. Sure there are Eric Hosmers and other names past that they held onto way too long at the expense of other guys getting a chance to play. But when you look at a Kyle Hendricks or an Adbert Alzolay and you want them to just be waived immediately, just bear in mind that some of these guys do get things worked out and go on to be good or even excellent.
Taillon has been nothing less than excellent in his four starts. He had allowed one earned run in each of his previous three starts. Saturday, he improved upon that by allowing no runs. I don’t even have to fill in the number of innings. If he’s working as anything more than an opener, then three runs over four starts is terrific. I told you yesterday just how excellent Cubs starting pitching has been this year and without a whole lot of room to improve on those stats, that’s just what Jameson Taillon did. While that was going on, the Cubs offense was putting five runs on the board.
As I was saying to my family during the game, getting the lead has been fairly routine for this team. It feels like they’ve led in almost every game. Keeping a lead? Now that’s been a challenge and Saturday was no different. Leading 5-0 after six innings, the Cubs proceeded to allow four runs in the seventh. This after allowing three in the eighth on Friday. Mark Leiter Jr. bailed the Cubs out of that seventh inning and then pitched a scoreless eighth to hold the line. I checked with the oracle and no, Leiter cannot pitch every relief inning until Julian Merryweather returns.
Justin Steele returns Monday night. No offense to someone who has surely done a good job, but the Cubs need someone as a back of the game reliever. It’s hard to imagine that isn’t Ben Brown. Ben can be electric. It’s impossible not to dream on his upside as a starter. But he might be an ultra-dominant reliever too. His stuff is darn near unhittable when it’s on.
The Cubs added an insurance run in the eighth and boy did they need it. Hector Neris was his usual high-wire act and the Cubs ended up hanging on for a 6-5 win. Nothing is easy. And also, this team is 20-14 and just a single game out of first place. The first place team is in town for one more game. There’s a lot of baseball to play and to hear Craig Counsell tell it, Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger aren’t far away either.
The Cubs appear to be able to roll out any of about seven different starters, when everyone is healthy, who can shut you down. They’ve got to figure out the back end of the game. But also, if they can find any level of consistent offensive production, this team is going to stack a lot of wins. Also, once teams get to the point where trading is palatable, garden variety relievers are some of the easiest players to obtain via trade. Closers or elite relievers can certainly be harder. But a ton of random middle reliever types change hands every year. In the meantime, someone who has been an effective starter is heading to the bullpen.
Let’s look at three positive performances from this one.
- Jameson Taillon gets the top spot. I’ll say it every time, I’m sucker for good starting pitching. Jameson allowed two hits and two walks over six scoreless. His ERA drops to 1.13 (which isn’t the Cubs best starting ERA, even once he qualifies).
- Christopher Morel. No cherry picking. Over the first 34 games of the Cubs season, he has a line of .213/.292/.426 (wRC+ 104). He had a walk and a two-run homer in this. Though he did strikeout twice. He continues to have his best strikeout rate since he left rookie ball and a walk rate over 10%. His ISO is approaching his career number. There is no way Morel finishes with a BABIP of .221.
- Sorry Nico, I do see you. Mark Leiter Jr. stopped the bleeding just when it looked like this one could go sideways. Inheriting a runner on first and a two run lead, he did allow a double scoring that inherited runner. But then he retired six straight to really shut the door. At least until the ninth.
Game 34, May 4: Cubs 6, Brewers 5 (20-14)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Jameson Taillon (.246). 6 IP, 23 batters, 2 H, 2 BB, 7 K (W 3-0)
- Hero: Mark Leiter Jr. (.154). 2 IP, 7 batters, H, 3 K
- Sidekick: Nico Hoerner (.128). 2-4, HR, RBI, R
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Keegan Thompson (-.211). 4 batters, 3 H, BB, 4 R, 3 ER
- Goat: Pete Crow-Armstrong (-.067). 0-4
- Kid: Miguel Amaya (-.034). 0-4
*This breaks up a string of eight consecutive games that Christopher Morel was on one side or the other of the ledger. He was fourth in line on the Heroes side.
WPA Play of the Game: With two outs and runners on first and second in the ninth inning, Hector Neris gets a ground ball to short and the throw just beats the runner to second to end the game. (.142)
*Brewers Play of the Game: Sal Frelick doubled against Mark Leiter Jr. with no outs in the seventh inning, allowing an inherited runner to score. That cut the Cubs lead all of the way down to one.
Cubs Player of the Game:
Yesterday’s Winner: Hayden Wesneski picked up 97 percent of the vote for Friday’s loss.
Rizzo Award Cumulative Standings: (Top 4/Bottom 4)
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.
- Jameson Taillon +10
- Shōta Imanaga/Hayden Wesneski +9
- Mark Leiter Jr. +7
- Nico Hoerner -6.5
- Miguel Amaya -9
- Adbert Alzolay -13
- Kyle Hendricks -15
Up Next: The third and final game of the series with the Brewers. The Cubs send Javier Assad (2-0, 1.97) to the mound. Javier has made six starts this year totaling 32 innings. He hasn’t had a decision since April 14. But, in the three starts since, he allowed exactly one earned run in each start. He’s thrown 15⅓ innings over that time. The story is repetitive. He will be effective but he won’t get too far into the game. He pitched three innings in relief against the Brewers last year, wrapping the first and last appearances of the year for him. He allowed three runs.
27-year-old righty Freddy Peralta (3-0, 3.21) starts for the Brewers. He is coming off of a win against the Rays where he allowed two earned runs over 5⅓ innings. He’s thrown 33⅔ innings over six starts. He’s yet to record an out in the seventh inning this season, but he’s completed six three times, though not since April 19.
Peralta is one tough customer. This is a rough Sunday afternoon matchup.