Reds 3, Cubs 2: The same old sad song, sung yet again

Justin Steele had a good start Friday. Dansby Swanson homered, his second in his last seven games.

None of that mattered because Miguel Amaya dropped a third strike that would have ended the Reds’ fourth inning. Instead, that play was followed by a two-run double that wound up winning the game for the Reds 3-2.

Steele and Nick Lodolo matched zeroes for the first three innings, but it was during that time that something else bad happened to the Cubs. In the first inning, Seiya Suzuki walked with one out and took off for second. He was safe, but the throw hit him in the side. He stayed in the game for another at-bat (another walk), but eventually left in the sixth for Mike Tauchman. Here are some postgame comments:

More:

Well, that’s not good. Suzuki was just starting to hit well again after coming back from an oblique injury suffered in April.

Anyway, in the fourth inning noted above, the Reds had a runner on second and two out when Spencer Steer struck out and it should have ended the inning but, oh, no! [VIDEO]

It was ruled a wild pitch on Steele, but Amaya has to block that ball so it doesn’t get so far away. The inning should have been over. Instead, Tyler Stephenson smashed a two-run double and the Reds led 2-0.

They scored another in the fifth on an RBI single by Stuart Fairchild and led 3-0.

The Cubs got one run back in the sixth on Swanson’s home run, his sixth [VIDEO].

Steele completed seven innings, the second time he’s done so in eight starts this year. He allowed five hits and the three runs and struck out seven. That’s not a bad outing, I’d say. Here are the seven K’s [VIDEO].

In 64 games this year, Cubs starters have thrown at least seven innings just six times, and in only two of those games (Jameson Taillon April 29 and Shōta Imanaga May 7) has a Cubs starter thrown a pitch in the eighth inning. This game wasn’t one of those, but short starts by Cubs pitchers has led to overuse of the bullpen, with predictable results.

In this game, Drew Smyly was the only Cubs reliever used, and he threw a scoreless eighth. So, yay?

The Cubs did put together a two-out rally in the ninth. Michael Busch walked and Amaya doubled him in [VIDEO].

As you can see in the video clip, that missed being a game-tying two-run homer by maybe two feet. Sigh.

Nico Hoerner, who didn’t start because he had hurt his hand on a swing Thursday night, ran for Amaya. So perhaps that’s good news and Nico can start tonight.

But Nico was stranded when Patrick Wisdom struck out to end the game.

Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].

And now, yes, I am going to talk about the blue jerseys again.

Blue alternate: 1-11
Road gray: 12-9

Just for superstition’s sake you’d think they’d stop wearing them, no? The only game the Cubs have won this year wearing blue was April 26 at Boston. Since then they have lost eight straight wearing blue, including the two games in this series. Please, Cubs. Couldn’t hurt to wear gray the rest of the road trip, right?

Just to show you how badly things are going for the Cubs in this series, Ian Happ, who usually hits like crazy at GABP, is 0-for-8 with four strikeouts in the two games.

The Cubs still do have a chance to split this series, which is the result many of us thought might happen. Ben Brown will start for the Cubs Saturday afternoon and lefthander Andrew Abbott will go for the Reds. Game time is 3:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network (and MLB Network outside the Cubs and Reds market territories).