Yankees 2, Cubs 1: So close

This is going to be a recap’s worth of moral victories, because an actual victory against the New York Yankees continues to elude the Chicago Cubs.

After losing 2-1 to the Bronx Bombers in 13 innings — the longest Cubs game by innings since the Manfred man became a thing in 2020 — the Cubs are now 4-21 all-time against them, 0-8 in World Series play and 4-13 in regular season games. Friday’s game was the Cubs’ fourth straight loss and fifth defeat in their last six games.

Sigh.

Wade Miley and Luis Severino matched zeroes in this game through three innings. Yankees defense prevented at least one, and possibly two, runs in the third. With one out in that inning and Jason Heyward on third base, Christopher Morel hit this ground ball [VIDEO].

Repeat after me: So close.

Willson Contreras followed that with a single. Aaron Judge made this fine defensive catch [VIDEO] with two Cubs (including Morel) on base to prevent more possible Cubs runs.

This is why the Yankees are so good. There’s no margin for error against them. You have to make plays against them, or they will make them against you.

I said that Wade Miley had thrown three shutout innings. The fourth... well, he didn’t pitch the fourth, or any inning after that, because on the day he was activated from the injured list with shoulder trouble, he left the game with... shoulder trouble [VIDEO].

“Frustrating” doesn’t begin to describe it. Look, I know this isn’t a contending or even perhaps winning Cubs team the way it was put together. But injuries have piled up so high that the team still doesn’t have a starting pitcher listed for Sunday’s game. It’s obviously not an excuse, but it is an explanation, of sorts, anyway. I’m guessing Miley will join the IL bunch again on Monday. Here’s David Ross’ postgame comments about Miley [VIDEO].

Daniel Norris replaced Miley and Gleyber Torres homered off him in the bottom of the fourth to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

Heyward got that run back in the fifth [VIDEO].

Oppo for Heyward — I can’t remember the last time Heyward homered to the opposite field. He had a pair of hits on the evening.

The Cubs bullpen — man, I cannot say enough about the job they did, despite the loss. Including the homer hit off Norris, the Cubs pen threw 10 innings, allowed three hits and two runs (only one earned) and struck out 10. They did issue six walks, but three of those were intentional to help get out of jams in extra innings. I particularly want to give props to Rowan Wick and Brandon Hughes, who threw two scoreless innings each and looked like lockdown guys.

The Cubs had a fair chance to score in the 10th when, after one out, Ian Happ was intentionally walked, giving the Cubs runners on first and second. But Frank Schwindel hit into a double play. In the 13th, they had runners on first and second with nobody out after a walk to Morel. But the next three hitters went down in order. Incidentally, Morel, with a walk and two hits, extended his franchise record start-of-career on-base streak to 22 games:

The Yankees’ winning run was driven in by their backup catcher, Jose Trevino, the last position player who hadn’t played. Alec Mills had retired the first two hitters, one on a fly ball that advanced the placed runner, Joey Gallo, to third. Trevino lined a single to left off Mills to end the game.

So close. And no margin for error. But, you know, the Cubs played themselves a pretty good game against the best team in baseball and held them to one earned run in 13 innings. And you’re not likely going to win a game going 0-for-18 with RISP and leaving 13 men on base (nine hits, four walks, some Manfred men and the Yankees turning three double plays).

A note about the length of this game:

Remember I mentioned moral victories? That’s about all we get, unfortunately. Oh, and yet another injury:

And another: Now we know why Kyle Hendricks hasn’t thrown in a while:

The two teams will meet again at Yankee Stadium Saturday evening. Matt Swarmer will start for the Cubs and Jordan Montgomery will get the call for the Yankees. Game time is 6:15 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be on your local Fox-TV station (coverage map). A reminder that if you subscribe to MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings, you can watch this game on those services even if it’s not on the Fox affiliate in your market.