The Cubs lose their second straight in Minnesota, 4-2.
I think that no matter how long I’ve been a baseball fan, I’ll never stop being fascinated how fast a bad team can look good and vice versa. There’s a lot of fool’s gold to be found over the course of a baseball season. If you had been out of the country or something and not following the Cubs before this trip to Minnesota, you’d think we were all messing with you saying that this team is really good.
Baseball is unique among sports, in this way: The regular season is so much more akin to my day job than any of the other sports. For 162 games, roster depth and construction are paramount. It’s all about building a deep, talented roster. To give yourself the most number of options to get you through the season and to avoid too many games like the last couple of days. Every additional dominant starting pitcher is a greater chance of you locking them down. Every additional masher you add to the lineup, the greater the odds of having the two or more guys locked in at a time that it takes to generate enough offense to win games.
If we turn our eyes west, we see about as deep of a team as any in the Wild Card era. And still, they can’t keep enough of them on the field to keep their results steady. The sting of this series is so much worse because the Brewers just swept the Dodgers for the first time in their history. The Dodgers, between injuries and controlling workload, don’t have enough healthy bodies to be fully combat effective.
It’s not lost on me that the Cubs have been a little less than over the last month or so. They are leaving some wins on the table. Just not clicking like they were. Hopefully they get it back soon.
Key Storylines:
- Starting Pitching: Cade Horton may have nominally pitched better than his line, but any way you cut it, he didn’t put them in a good spot. His numbers remain pretty awful away from Wrigley Field.
- Relief Pitching: 3⅓ innings. Two hits, one hit batter, no runs. Job done.
- Homer Over Reliance: Two runs, no homers. Four hits, none for extra bases, two walks, no steals. Two runs is actually a great clustering of that miserable output.
- Third Base Production: Jon Berti had a hit in two plate appearances. Justin Turner struck out in his only appearance. It’s amazing that a team as good as the Cubs has no third base production to speak of.
- Dansby Swanson: Batted sixth. One hit in four plate appearances. Batted twice with runners on, a total of four runners. He had an infield hit and drove in one.
- Opposing starter: This team has had a pretty good run against right-handed starters, but struggled for the second straight day. Three plate appearances in the game against lefties. One was Michael Busch and he singled. Busch’s higher gear is balancing the team out some, only offset by Pete Crow-Armstrong’s slump
Pitch Counts:
- Cubs: 143, 34 BF (8 IP)
- Twins: 111, 33 BF
Twins pitching flat dominated this game, not finishing too far off of a team Maddux. As is their way of doing things, they used four relievers. But none faced more than three hitters. The Cubs should have a full complement of relievers Thursday. The Twins probably should too after not needing their back end relievers Tuesday following Monday’s off day.
Three Stars:
- Michael Busch with a hit and a walk.
- Jon Berti with a hit in two plate appearances.
- Ryan Brasier, four up, four down.
Game 92, July 9: Twins 4, Cubs 2 (54 – 38)
Fangraphs
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Ryan Brasier (.056). 1⅓ IP, 4 BF, K
- Hero: Dansby Swanson (.049). 1-4, RBI
- Sidekick: Michael Busch (.045). 1-3, BB
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Cade Horton (-.244). 4⅔ IP, 21 BF, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 ER, 5 K, HBP (L 3-3)
- Goat: Pete Crow-Armstrong (-.139). 0-4
- Kid: Reese McGuire (-.099). 0-3
WPA Play of the Game: Dansby Swanson’s single with the bases loaded, the Cubs down three in the fourth with one out. (.101)
*Twins Play of the Game: Carlos Correa’s RBI-double with two outs and a runner on first in the first. (.100)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Yesterday’s Winner: Shōta Imanaga received 70 of 143 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 +17
- Shōta Imanaga +13
- Jameson Taillon/Miguel Amaya +11
- Matt Shaw -10.33
- Julian Merryweather -15
- Ben Brown -17
- Seiya Suzuki -25
- Dansby Swanson -25.33
Up Next: A quick turn around for an afternoon game on Thursday. Al will have the full preview at 10 a.m. CT. Colin Rea starts against Chris Paddack.
Need a win. The team was only swept this year in the Tokyo Series, and that was just two games.