Tonight’s game was probably done in the first inning.
At first the ball Javier Baez hit looked like it would sail over the wall of AT&T; Park.
Posey wanted to make sure, though, that this one wouldn’t have a similar fate after the Cubs (59-53) put up another in the eighth – singling, stealing his fifth base (his career high is six) and scoring Crawford grounder up the middle ruled a single despite Happ’s apparent error.
Blach was superb in defeating the Oakland Athletics in his last turn when he gave up two runs and six hits over eight innings. “We got to get sharper”.
The Cubs have lost five of seven since a 14-3 surge from the All-Star break, with sloppy play mixed with a few bullpen breakdowns over the last week. He went (at least) seven for a fifth start in a row, this time allowing just two runs on seven hits. “For us to get back to the promised land, we’ve got to catch the ball. To get to the promised land, we got to catch the ball – maybe not at the level of previous year – but better than we have to this point”.
“We’re playing like that.500 team that we were in the first half, and I don’t like it”, Maddon said.
“It’s going to be fun”, he said. “It’s something that’s we’ll be ready for it”. We’ve got to worry about ourselves. “You can’t control what they’re going to do”.
Losing pitcher Jose Quintana accepted blame for the first-inning deficit, saying it “changed the game for me”. This prompted a fan interference review, but it was clear that the ball had, somehow, crossed the plane of the outfield wall anyway.
Ty Blach (W, 8-7, 4.15 ERA) did what he’s done all month: make big pitches and bigger outs.
Cubs reliever Koji Uehara left in the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s 6-3 loss to the Giants because of neck stiffness, and fellow reliever Hector Rondon was unavailable due to a sore back. This is not to dismiss the hard contact against Cubs starter Jose Quintana tonight, who has worn off almost all of the goodwill earned in his first start with his new team, but as a whole, I’ll stand by how well Quintana pitched tonight.