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First inning, two-out walk. Second inning, two-out walk and single. Third inning, two two-out walks. Fourth inning, two-out single. Fifth inning, leadoff single, double, two-out walk.
That’s a lot of baserunners! Nine, if you’re counting.
That’s what the Chicago Cubs did in the first five innings of Saturday night’s game. Even if you didn’t see the game, you know that not one of those runners scored, since the final score was 3-0 in favor of the Diamondbacks.
Frustrating? Yes. But “frustrating” is the nickname of the 2024 Chicago Cubs. They should get it sponsored, the “Coca-Cola Frustrating Cubs” or something like that, at least they could pocket a few bucks on it.
More about that lack of scoring from BCB’s JohnW53:
Zac Gallen is the first starter against the Cubs since 1901 to pitch exactly five innings and give up no runs on three or fewer hits and walk at least six.
Luis Pineda of the Reds blanked the Cubs for five innings on three hits and five walks in 2002. Dakota Hudson of the Cardinals did it on two hits and five walks in 2019.
Kyle Hendricks didn’t pitch too badly, four really good innings and then he gave up a couple of long balls in the fifth and that, as they say, was that.
There was one nice Cubs defensive play over those first five innings, Seiya Suzuki in the third [VIDEO].
Mainly, I just put that video in this recap to break up a wall of text, because there weren’t any Cubs offensive highlights. After the failures of the first five innings, the Cubs spent the next three frames not getting anyone on base at all, against the same three Arizona relievers, in the very same order, that they saw Friday afternoon. Did they not take notes?
Give the Cubs bullpen credit once again. Tyson Miller, Drew Smyly and Hunter Bigge threw four scoreless innings, allowing three hits and no walks and striking out four. They, at least, kept the game close.
The Cubs did get a runner to scoring position with one out in the ninth. Miles Mastrobuoni, sent up to bat for Miguel Amaya, doubled. He was left stranded when Pete Crow-Armstrong struck out and Nico Hoerner flied to right. So all that double accomplished was giving the Cubs two more at-bats with RISP, making them 0-for-7 on the night and with 10 men left on base.
That plate appearance was Nico’s fifth of the game, one final try to save his hitting streak. He went 0-for-4 with a walk, ending the streak at 12 games.
Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].
That’s all I’ve got. The Cubs sit 4½ games behind the last wild-card spot with nine days to go until the trade deadline. What will they do? As always, we await developments. And that’s it for this recap, one of the shorter ones I’ve written. What more is there to say?
In the meantime, there’s a series finale with the D-backs to play. Shōta Imanaga will make his first post All-Star Game appearance and start for the Cubs and Brandon Pfaadt will go for Arizona. Game time is 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
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