If I had told you, before Monday night's game, that the Cubs would score five runs in the first inning, have 12 hits and seven walks (including four walks by Kris Bryant) and get a home run from Addison Russell, you'd have been pretty happy figuring they'd win easily, right?
All of those things happened and the Cubs still lost 10-9 to the Cardinals, the ugliest defeat so far this year.
It looked like the Cubs would knock Carlos Martinez out in the first inning. I had mentioned that Martinez had issued quite a few walks this year and the Cubs might benefit from being patient. They did, as Martinez walked the bases loaded in the first inning with one out. Four straight singles produced five runs, and Martinez threw 42 pitches to record the first three outs. But because the Cardinals' bullpen had been stretched to the limit in three extra-inning games over the weekend against the Pirates, Martinez was left in the game.
Travis Wood, who had one of those RBI singles in the top of the first, had trouble of his own in the bottom of the inning, hitting Jon Jay and then giving up a double and a walk that loaded the bases for Mark Reynolds, who hit a grand slam.
Wood threw 30 pitches in the inning. I don't think I've ever seen a first inning with 72 total pitches before.
The Cubs extended their lead a run at a time in the second, fourth and sixth. A four-run lead going into the bottom of the sixth. What could go wrong?
Plenty, as it turned out. Wood was allowed to start the sixth, a decision I agreed with, because the Cubs' pen has also been overworked. Unfortunately, Wood was out of gas on a warm, humid evening and gave up three straight hits that made it 8-5. Fortunately (and this is likely the only time I use that word in this recap), the much-maligned Jason Motte and Phil Coke got out of the inning with only one further run, Motte allowing a sac fly that made it 8-6. Turns out that run would be pretty important.
A two-run lead going into the bottom of the seventh. What could go wrong? (You've heard this before.)
Maddon made what appeared to be another correct choice. He went to Pedro Strop, normally the eighth-inning setup guy, in the seventh because righthanded hitters in the middle of the Cardinals order were due up. Apart from Sunday's failure, Strop had been lights-out this year.
The Cardinals turned Strop's lights on. They loaded the bases on two singles and a walk. Zac Rosscup, who has also been very good this year, came in and wasn't any help either. A groundout by Jason Heyward made it 8-7. Kolten Wong singled to tie the game and then Tony Cruz slapped a double down the left-field line that made it 10-8. (And remember how happy we were that Yadier Molina wasn't starting this game?)
If not for Peter Bourjos' sac fly in that four-run eighth, Russell's ninth-inning homer would have tied the game. But that's putting too much emphasis on one play; the Cubs had numerous chances to shut the Cardinals down and the bullpen failed to do so. The bullpen, which was quite good at the end of last season and for the first few games of this year, has turned into a tire fire. They need help. They might get some soon; Justin Grimm has begun a rehab assignment at Triple-A Iowa and threw a scoreless inning Monday night. James Russell posted the save in that Iowa game and he has now thrown 9⅔ innings with four hits allowed, no walks issued and 12 strikeouts. I'd guess both of those men will be in the Cubs' bullpen soon.
Also likely heading to join the Cubs in St. Louis from Iowa's stop in Nashville is Matt Szczur. Chris Denorfia aggravated the same hamstring injury he suffered in spring training, while running the bases in the third inning. TV cameras caught his frustration at this event as he left the dugout for the clubhouse. I feel bad for Denorfia, who was 9-for-21 in his brief time with the Cubs and who also played well in the field. Szczur was pulled from Iowa's Monday game and is probably in St. Louis by now.
Well, what are you going to do? Bad games like this happen at times even to good teams. The positive we can draw from this is that the Cubs' offense got untracked from its recent struggles (six total runs in the four previous games). Unfortunately, the bullpen was no help at all. The good news is that this is only one loss and the Cubs still have three more attempts to beat the Cardinals this week, starting tonight with Kyle Hendricks on the mound against Tyler Lyons.