Mariners 14, Cubs 6: Back to the bullpen drawing board

The Cubs ended the homestand on a sour note.

Look at it this way. The Chicago Cubs are still a very good team. They still have a (mostly) comfortable lead in the NL Central.

They are going to go through times like this, every team does, even good teams. The 14-6 loss to the Mariners ended the homestand with a 5-4 record, which is disappointing after winning three of the first four.

I’ll talk about what I think the Cubs need to do going forward, but let’s recap this game first.

The wind was blowing out again at Wrigley Field on another hot day, but not quite as windy nor hot as Saturday.

The Mariners took advantage of the wind in the first inning, after a leadoff single by J.P. Crawford. One out later, Cal Raleigh homered for the fourth time in the series. Really, they just should have walked him every time, pulled a Bryce Harper on him. That guy is an absolute beast.

The Cubs got one of those runs back in the bottom of the first. With two out, Seiya Suzuki went deep [VIDEO].

That one needed no help from the wind. Look at the launch angle! [VIDEO]

That’s about as low an angle as anyone can hit a ball and still get it out of the yard. Incidentally, the guy who had it in his hand and missed it is a friend of mine. He missed another one just like that later in the game.

Colin Rea served up another homer in the second to Dominic Canzone that made it 3-1 Mariners. The Cubs offense couldn’t do much with Logan Gilbert through the fourth inning, even after a leadoff single by Pete Crow-Armstrong in the fourth. PCA was thrown out trying to steal, for just the fourth time in 28 attempts.

In the top of the fourth, Rea got hit for another homer, this one by Donovan Solano, and the Mariners got a couple more runners on base before Rea caught this line drive and turned it into a double play [VIDEO].

One more Mariners run scored in the top of the fifth, but there was also some good Cubs defense in that inning by Vidal Bruján.

So the score is 5-1 Mariners going to the bottom of the fifth, and that’s when the Cubs made it close, for a time, anyway. Reese McGuire led off the inning with a home run [VIDEO].

Two outs later, Kyle Tucker singled and Suzuki went deep for the second time, his 20th [VIDEO].

More on Seiya’s 20th:

So. Now it’s 5-4 and maybe, just maybe, the Cubs can come back.

Well, you know the answer to that. In the sixth, Rea allowed his fourth homer fo the afternoon, Canzone’s second of the day. After an infield single, Rea was lifted for Chris Flexen, who allowed a hit and threw a wild pitch that eventually allowed an inherited runner to score to make it 7-4 Seattle.

Regarding Rea, this is who he is — a fifth starter who can do well at times and get hit at other times. Right now he’s being asked to be a fourth starter which, no. He might wind up in the bullpen when Shōta Imanaga returns.

In the seventh, Flexen’s 0.00 ERA finally met its match, a two-out walk and Solano’s second homer of the day, and the fifth by the Mariners. That made it 9-4 and a lot of people started to leave Wrigley at that point, partly due to the score, and partly because of the heat.

The Cubs tried to make it a game in the bottom of the seventh. Justin Turner batted for Bruján and walked, One out later, Tucker went deep [VIDEO].

Now it’s 9-6 and with the wind blowing the way it was, maybe the Cubs still have a chance.

Just-recalled Nate Pearson was given the opportunity to keep the deficit at three. Friends, Pearson completely failed in that effort. He allowed a leadoff single to old friend Miles Mastrobuoni, and after a fly to left the Mariners went single, walk, single, double, strikeout, single, and before you knew it five runs had scored and that, basically, was that.

Pearson was allowed to finish things, and he managed a scoreless ninth that ended with a double play. His MLB ERA went from 10.38 to 12.66 with this outing and I suspect, as you probably also do, that he’ll be sent back to Iowa tomorrow and, most likely, Gavin Hollowell will be recalled, at least until Shōta Imanaga is activated to start sometime during the Cardinals series.

So here are my conclusions. The bullpen, which was so good until the last few games, wasn’t going to be that way forever. It will be good again, but it would not hurt for the Cubs to look around for some help. They absolutely need better bench players — Bruján is okay defensively, but he simply cannot hit. Neither can Jon Berti. The Cubs need to upgrade their bench.

And yes, it was hot again, and windy, but again — hydrate well enough and it’s not difficult to stay out for the afternoon. In case you were wondering after the nine home runs left Wrigley Sunday, the Wrigley record for most home runs in a game by both teams is 11. It’s been done twice, an 18-10 win over the Mets June 11, 1967 and a 12-3 loss to the Tigers June 18, 2006.

More on all the home runs in this homestand:

I’ll give the last note on this game to BCB’s JohnW53:

The Cubs have allowed at least seven runs in each of their last four games. In their 73 before those four, they never had allowed a seventh run in back-to-back games.

Let’s hope that sort of thing stops right here.

The Cubs, at last, after 77 games, will face their arch-rivals, the Cardinals, in a four-game series in St. Louis beginning Monday evening. Ben Brown will start for the Cubs and Matthew Liberatore will go for the Cardinals. Game time is 6:45 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.