Dodgers 4, Cubs 3: Walkathon

The overriding narrative of the Cubs’ 4-3 loss to the Dodgers appears to be: Why was Brandon Morrow not in this game?

Here’s why:

You should know Joe Maddon well enough by now. So given that, this was a good opportunity to find out whether Justin Wilson could close a game. He’s done better in high leverage situations recently and this was the right time to try it.

And, Wilson should have saved this game. He had Justin Turner struck out:

Get that call, and the K of Yasmani Grandal ends the game. Or, if Kris Bryant's dive is just a bit quicker, that ends the game.

All of that would have made no difference if the Cubs could have hit with runners on base. They were 2-for-12 with RISP and left 13 men on base, including the bases loaded twice. Scoring some runs there would have made moot all this reliever discussion.

i really don’t get Tyler Chatwood. Five more walks in this one, yet he gets out of it with five innings, two hits and just one run allowed.

I find myself agreeing with Brett Taylor:

He's right. The Cubs will have a decision to make, and soon. Chatwood wasn’t the only one walking everyone in the park... 12 pitchers combined for 16 walks, making this mess slog along for three hours, 46 minutes, and several Dodger ejections for disagreeing with ball and strike calls, and they might have had a point. But then, so did the Cubs, who might have lost the game in part due to the bad call noted above. @CubsUmp says plate umpire Tripp Gibson missed 16 calls, which is a huge number.

About 15,000 were in the ballpark for this hastily arranged makeup game, and I’ll have more to say about the entire day tomorrow morning.

In the meantime the Cubs will go for the split of the doubleheader at 7:05 p.m. CT, with Mike Montgomery going for the Cubs and Rich Hill for the Dodgers. TV coverage tonight is via ABC7 Chicago. A game preview with lineups and pitcher info will post at 6 p.m. CT.