What a stupid ending to a stupid game. I don’t know what the Cubs are going to do about Adbert Alzolay, but he just blew his league-leading fourth save of the season and it’s April 20. I also don’t really know why Mark Leiter Jr. was pulled from the 8th inning with two outs when all he gave up was a couple of grounders. You’re really going to ask Alzolay for a four-out save and make him get up and down, despite how much he’s been struggling? And I REALLY don’t know why Alexander Canario was swinging for the fences with the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second base with one out in the 9th. Rookie plate appearance there, for sure.
And the worst part is that the Cubs had played the ninth inning perfectly before that, getting the first two on and moving them over (while avoiding the double-play) with a bunt from the catcher, Miguel Amaya. But Canario struck out and Nico Hoerner couldn’t play hero once again. God. That sucked. What a wasted effort.
Yes, the Cubs need to score more than two runs, but Adbert Alzolay just can’t blow game after game. Again, I really don’t know what the Cubs are going to do, because Hector Neris isn’t locked in, Julian Merryweather is out, Mark Leiter Jr. isn’t always on and is needed for tough, high-leverage vsLHH matchups, Keegan Thompson doesn’t usually go on back-to-backs, and so on. We’ll talk about this another time, but man is it frustrating.
As for the Cubs offense, they couldn’t get anything going against Jesus Luzardo, though the group hardly looked recognizable with Cody Bellinger and Michael Busch sitting plus Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki out injured. Against a good pitcher like Luzardo, you probably don’t expect them to score too often, but that’s what makes the blown save even more frustrating. The win was right there for the taking.
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I had a bunch of nice things to say about Javier Assad delivering another nice (albeit short) appearance, but it all feels so pointless now. I’ll save it for tomorrow. Suffice it to say, after a wobbly start and an early visit from Amaya, Assad really locked in and looked good once again. Ugh. What a crappy game.