Indians 4, Cubs 1: A tip your cap to the other guy game

In the season’s 21st game, the Cubs finally had a starting pitcher throw seven innings.

Jon Lester did well in those innings, too: four hits, three runs, four strikeouts. Most times, an outing like that will put a team in position to win.

Not this one, though. Lester gave up three solo homers and the Indians added another run off Mike Montgomery for a 4-1 win over the Cubs and a split of the two-game series.

The Cubs did have their chances to score runs in this game. Albert Almora Jr. and Javier Baez singled with one out in the third. Both were stranded.

In the fifth, the Cubs scored their only run. Ian Happ and Almora walked with one out. Baez then struck out, but Anthony Rizzo was the next hitter. Since it’s the only real Cubs highlight of the game, have a look [VIDEO].

At the time, that gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead. The lead lasted less than 10 minutes, as former Cubs farmhand Brandon Guyer hit the first of the three homers off Lester in the bottom of the inning.

In the sixth, Francisco Lindor and Edwin Encarnacion hit solo homers off Lester. After Lindor’s, making it 2-1, I thought the Cubs might still come back, but after it became 3-1, it seemed reasonably clear the game was out of reach, what with the Cubs not hitting with RISP (1-for-10) and leaving nine runners on base.

Trevor Bauer threw 6⅔ really good innings and kept Cubs hitters off balance. Bauer’s pretty good and he showed why Wednesday evening. The Indians suffered an injury that has to be concerning; with two out and Baez on first, Terry Francona summoned Andrew Miller to face Rizzo. Miller threw only two pitches and left with an apparent hamstring injury. That makes him the second reliever (Corey Knebel of the Brewers is the other) who’s left with a similar injury facing the Cubs. This one is apparently less serious than Knebel’s:

A curiosity about Miller and some other Cubs and Indians players:

And another oddity about this still-young Cubs season:

That’s probably nothing. Or it could be related to the weather. Or it’s just random noise in a long baseball season. Just thought it was moderately interesting. Honestly, I don’t have a lot more to say about Wednesday night’s game.

The Cubs and Indians will meet again in four weeks, May 22 and 23 at Wrigley Field. Perhaps it will be a little bit warmer by then.

In the meantime, it’s back to divisional baseball as the Cubs host the Brewers in a four-game series beginning Thursday night. Kyle Hendricks will start for the Cubs and Chase Anderson for the Brewers. Game time is 7:05 p.m. CT and TV coverage is on NBC Sports Chicago Plus.