So I had to look this one up, just to see when the last time something like this happened at Wrigley Field. Pitch count records only go back to 1988 on Baseball Reference, so there's not a lot of data to work with, relatively speaking. But in the past 27 years with the Cubs leading at home in the ninth, two outs in the game, and two strikes on the batter, there has only been one other time that someone gave up a home run to lose the game, and that ball didn't even leave the yard as Kevin Millar hit an inside-the-park homer off of Rick Aguilera on May 24, 1999 to turn a 5-3 lead at the start of the inning into a 7-5 loss. To make it even more interesting, it was Millar's first career home run.
I kinda felt like Ralphie from A Christmas Story on that 1-2 pitch last night. And like Ralphie holding the hubcap full of lug nuts, I too didn't say "fudge".
Graphs for Game 84 (courtesy of Fangraphs):
Stats for Game 84:
Pitcher |
IP |
H |
HR |
ER |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
T Wood |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
0.69 |
.154 |
H Rondon |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1.53 |
.112 |
J Hammel |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0.62 |
.045 |
C Richard |
3 |
7 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
0.97 |
-.282 |
P Strop |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1.8 |
-.678 |
Total |
9 |
8 |
1 |
6 |
5 |
10 |
1.02 |
-.648 |
Batter |
AB |
R |
H |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
M Montero |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
2.01 |
.360 |
A Rizzo |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1.27 |
.083 |
J Soler |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1.41 |
.072 |
A Russell |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0.83 |
.051 |
K Bryant |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1.56 |
.024 |
M Baxter |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.67 |
-.016 |
T Wood |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0.83 |
-.020 |
C Richard |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.04 |
-.025 |
D Fowler |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1.57 |
-.055 |
C Denorfia |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2.39 |
-.057 |
S Castro |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
2.02 |
-.120 |
C Coghlan |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.5 |
-.150 |
Total |
35 |
5 |
9 |
0 |
5 |
2 |
10 |
1.49 |
.148 |
Writer's Note: The daily selections of the three Heroes and three Goats are based solely on the top three and bottom three WPA scores for the game. The selections are not based on my subjective opinion.
THE THREE HEROES:
- Superhero - Miguel Montero (.360). Despite the number of walkoff wins that the Cubs have had this year, there haven't been many hits to me that have been bigger this season than his bases-clearing double was at the time.
- Hero - Travis Wood (.154). An excellent job at stopping the bleeding through the middle innings.
- Sidekick - Hector Rondon (.112). Kept up the great vibes with a perfect eighth.
THE THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat - Pedro Strop (-.678). And then that happened.
- Goat - Clayton Richard (-.282). A lot of those grounders in his debut turned into liners in this outing.
- Kid - Chris Coghlan (-.150). Rough 0-for-4 night capped off with a screaming liner right at Jhonny Peralta.
Wood finds his way back to positive territory while Strop sinks back into the pit of players gathered several paces from the cellar door.
Heroes |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
Anthony Rizzo |
10 |
18 |
3 |
69 |
Kris Bryant |
9 |
7 |
6 |
47 |
Dexter Fowler |
6 |
4 |
7 |
33 |
Miguel Montero |
6.5 |
5.5 |
0 |
30.5 |
Jake Arrieta |
7.5 |
3 |
0.5 |
29 |
Starlin Castro |
3 |
6 |
8 |
29 |
Addison Russell |
6 |
2.5 |
5.5 |
28.5 |
Chris Coghlan |
6 |
2 |
5 |
27 |
Jason Hammel |
6 |
2 |
0 |
22 |
Jorge Soler |
2 |
7 |
1 |
21 |
Jon Lester |
5 |
0 |
2 |
17 |
Hector Rondon |
0 |
6 |
4.5 |
16.5 |
Kyle Hendricks |
4 |
0 |
2 |
14 |
Travis Wood |
1 |
3 |
3.5 |
12.5 |
Pedro Strop |
1 |
0 |
8.5 |
11.5 |
Jonathan Herrera |
1 |
3 |
2 |
11 |
x-Matt Szczur |
2 |
1 |
1 |
9 |
x-Zac Rosscup |
2 |
0 |
3 |
9 |
Chris Denorfia |
1 |
1 |
3.5 |
8.5 |
James Russell |
0 |
3 |
1.5 |
7.5 |
Jason Motte |
0 |
1 |
5 |
7 |
x-Kyle Schwarber |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
x-Junior Lake |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
Justin Grimm |
0 |
1 |
3.5 |
5.5 |
x-Tsuyoshi Wada |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
x-Brian Schlitter |
0 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
x-Phil Coke |
1 |
0 |
0.5 |
3.5 |
Edwin Jackson |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
Taylor Teagarden |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
x-Welington Castillo |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
x-Arismendy Alcantara |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Mike Baxter |
0 |
0 |
1.5 |
1.5 |
Clayton Richard |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
x-David Ross |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
x-Yoervis Medina |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Goats |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
Starlin Castro |
8 |
6 |
10 |
46 |
Jorge Soler |
5 |
9 |
5 |
38 |
Addison Russell |
2 |
11 |
6 |
34 |
Dexter Fowler |
4 |
6.5 |
6.5 |
31.5 |
Chris Coghlan |
2 |
7 |
11 |
31 |
Kris Bryant |
4 |
5 |
6 |
28 |
Miguel Montero |
3 |
6 |
6 |
27 |
Anthony Rizzo |
3 |
7 |
3 |
26 |
Pedro Strop |
6 |
1 |
0 |
20 |
Kyle Hendricks |
5 |
1 |
0 |
17 |
Jon Lester |
5 |
0 |
1 |
16 |
Jason Hammel |
3 |
3 |
0 |
15 |
Hector Rondon |
4 |
1 |
0 |
14 |
Justin Grimm |
1 |
4 |
3 |
14 |
Jake Arrieta |
4 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
x-Tsuyoshi Wada |
4 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
x-Zac Rosscup |
3 |
1 |
1 |
12 |
Travis Wood |
2 |
1 |
3 |
11 |
x-David Ross |
0 |
3.5 |
3.5 |
10.5 |
x-Brian Schlitter |
3 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
Edwin Jackson |
2 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
Mike Baxter |
2 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
Jason Motte |
1 |
2 |
0 |
7 |
x-Welington Castillo |
1 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
Chris Denorfia |
1 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
Jonathan Herrera |
1 |
0 |
4 |
7 |
James Russell |
1 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
x-Junior Lake |
1 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
x-Matt Szczur |
0 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
x-Mike Olt |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
x-Donn Roach |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
x-Gonzalez Germen |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
x-Phil Coke |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
Clayton Richard |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
x-Kyle Schwarber |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
x-Arismendy Alcantara |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Neil Ramirez |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Overall |
Hero |
Goat |
+/- |
Anthony Rizzo |
69 |
26 |
43 |
Kris Bryant |
47 |
28 |
19 |
Jake Arrieta |
29 |
13 |
16 |
Jason Hammel |
22 |
15 |
7 |
Jonathan Herrera |
11 |
7 |
4 |
x-Matt Szczur |
9 |
5 |
4 |
x-Kyle Schwarber |
6 |
2 |
4 |
Miguel Montero |
30.5 |
27 |
3.5 |
Hector Rondon |
16.5 |
14 |
2.5 |
James Russell |
7.5 |
5 |
2.5 |
Taylor Teagarden |
2 |
0 |
2 |
Dexter Fowler |
33 |
31.5 |
1.5 |
Travis Wood |
12.5 |
11 |
1.5 |
Chris Denorfia |
8.5 |
7 |
1.5 |
Jon Lester |
17 |
16 |
1 |
x-Junior Lake |
6 |
5 |
1 |
x-Arismendy Alcantara |
2 |
1 |
1 |
x-Yoervis Medina |
1 |
0 |
1 |
x-Phil Coke |
3.5 |
3 |
0.5 |
Jason Motte |
7 |
7 |
0 |
Clayton Richard |
1 |
2 |
-1 |
Neil Ramirez |
0 |
1 |
-1 |
Kyle Hendricks |
14 |
17 |
-3 |
x-Zac Rosscup |
9 |
12 |
-3 |
x-Donn Roach |
0 |
3 |
-3 |
x-Gonzalez Germen |
0 |
3 |
-3 |
Chris Coghlan |
27 |
31 |
-4 |
x-Mike Olt |
0 |
4 |
-4 |
x-Brian Schlitter |
5 |
10 |
-5 |
Edwin Jackson |
3 |
8 |
-5 |
x-Welington Castillo |
2 |
7 |
-5 |
Addison Russell |
28.5 |
34 |
-5.5 |
Mike Baxter |
1.5 |
8 |
-6.5 |
x-Tsuyoshi Wada |
5 |
12 |
-7 |
Pedro Strop |
11.5 |
20 |
-8.5 |
Justin Grimm |
5.5 |
14 |
-8.5 |
x-David Ross |
1 |
10.5 |
-9.5 |
Starlin Castro |
29 |
46 |
-17 |
Jorge Soler |
21 |
38 |
-17 |