NEWSLETTER
Well … THANK FREAKIN’ GOD, EH?
In case you weren’t watching tonight, this was one of those games that FELT like the Cubs were up by five runs, even though it was 1-0 through the seventh inning. And that’s because Shota Imanaga was freakin’ excellent once again, going seven scoreless and seemingly being done for the night.
But then we came crashing down to Earth. Despite running his pitch count up over 90 pitches, having a couple of high-stress innings, and gearing up to face the Luis Arraez and the top of the lineup Padres lineup for the fourth time, Imanaga came back out for the 8th.
And it was kinda hard to blame Counsell, seeing as the bullpen has been so shaky lately. But at the same time, it’s only May and … well, all those things I listed above. But more to the point, I thought Ben Brown was supposed to be available, and that would’ve been a really obvious spot for him to enter the game, possibly even for a two-inning save.
Unfortunately, Imanaga gave up a go-ahead, two-run homer to Jurickson Profar and it looked like our awesome night was about to take a turn for the worst.
But the Cubs came out hot in the 8th inning. Mike Tauchman reached on a walk (he is just so locked in right now) and advanced to third on Cody Bellinger’s THIRD hit of the night, before scoring on Chris Morel’s sac fly. But that’s all the Cubs could muster, a 2-2 tie going into the final frame.
As has been the procedure, Hector Neris came out for the ninth, and despite some drama (including yet another walk), the Cubs were able to get out of it. A really, really impressive catch by Ian Happ may have saved the game (Nico Hoerner had an excellent, potentially game-altering catch earlier in the game, as well).
And then, as we discussed, Michael Busch walked it off … through the rain … on the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth. Night salvaged, game won, rest easy.
