A routine fly ball was a nightmare for Seiya Suzuki and the Chicago Cubs at Truist Park — and with it a heartbreaking blow to their postseason hopes.
The Cubs had been an out away within the eighth inning from escaping with a one-run lead intact when left-hander Drew Smyly acquired Atlanta Braves catcher Sean Murphy to hit a ball to proper subject with runners on second and third base. What ought to have been a simple inning-ending flyout to Suzuki turned a catastrophe. Suzuki whiffed on the would-be inning-ending catch, permitting two runs to attain on his error.
The Cubs went down within the ninth to seal a devastating 7-6 loss Tuesday night time in a sport they led 6-0 getting into the underside of the sixth.
The lights contributed to misplaying the fly ball, Suzuki defined by means of interpreter Toy Matsushita. He noticed the ball fairly nicely till the final second.
“I honestly thought it went into my glove, so it was just that split second where it blurred my vision,” Suzuki mentioned of the lights at Truist Park. “But ever since I was playing in Japan, you do have to take that into consideration whenever you go out there in right field. So if I do say that (the lights affected the catch), then that’s an excuse, so I’m not going to say that.”
The Milwaukee Brewers clinched the division title whereas the Cubs (82-75) attempt to maintain on to the ultimate National League wild-card place. They sit a half-game forward of the Miami Marlins, who personal the tiebreaker and play a doubleheader Wednesday in opposition to the New York Mets.
“It happens to every single one of us,” Smyly mentioned. “We’ve all made errors. All we can do is turn the page and come back tomorrow. Seiya has been one of the best hitters in the league this whole month.”
The Cubs had alternatives so as to add to their early lead, ending the sport 6-for-16 with runners in scoring place and left 9 on base. Baseball might be merciless, and on Tuesday night time, Suzuki was its unwitting goal. A scorching efficiency within the return from his mental-break benching Aug. 9 in New York produced a .357/.411/.694 slash line in a 42-game stretch. He added to it with a two-hit sport within the loss, together with a two-run triple.
“Seiya has been carrying us for over a month and a half offensively, he’s put us on his back,” supervisor David Ross mentioned after the sport. “A lot of guys have been scuffling and he’s been the guy swinging the bat the best, so we’re not going to highlight one mistake. There’s other areas — we could have scored more runs, get guys in from third less than two outs, we could have made some pitches earlier in the game but we didn’t. Got to pick our heads up and go back out tomorrow.”
A beleaguered Cubs bullpen tried to grind out a win. But the accidents and utilization, significantly since dropping nearer Adbert Alzolay to the injured record Sept. 10, have taken their toll. Ross tried to depend on José Cuas, Javier Assad and Smyly to get to Julian Merryweather for the ninth had the Cubs held on to their lead. Mark Leiter Jr. hasn’t been wholesome sufficient to make use of, unavailable since his final look Sept. 20 in opposition to the Pittsburgh Pirates, although the Cubs hoped coming into the Braves sequence that he may very well be obtainable starting Wednesday.
The remainder of the pen consists of two pitchers who opened the season at Double A or decrease (Daniel Palencia and Luke Little), one who started the season within the rotation (Hayden Wesneski) and an anticipated multi-inning weapon who has been stricken by inconsistency (Keegan Thompson).
What had been a dominant night time by means of 5 innings rapidly unraveled within the sixth for starter Justin Steele, who entered the inning with a six-run lead. The Braves’ relentless offensive firepower is an enormous a part of why they personal the perfect file in baseball, and their deep lineup lastly acquired to Steele with 4 of their first 5 hitters reaching base to start the sixth.
Kevin Pillar’s solo residence run off Steele to open the inning marked the Braves’ three hundredth residence run of the season, making them the third group in MLB historical past to hit that milestone, becoming a member of the 2019 Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees. Steele recovered to retire Ronald Acuña Jr., however Ross noticed sufficient from Ozzie Albies (double), Austin Riley (stroll) and Matt Olson (RBI double) to drag his ace. Steele paced across the mound as he watched Ross start the trek from the dugout.
Ross thought Steele ran out of fuel within the sixth, citing how his slider wasn’t trying as sharp and the best way his physique was getting forward of the ball, resulting in misfires up and away.
“Those situations are always tough because the competitor in me wants to stay out there,” Steele mentioned. “But you additionally need to put belief within the workers and know what conditions are coming about, who’s developing within the order, who we now have down within the bullpen, the matchups and stuff. So it’s important to put your belief within the workers to make the correct selections.
“But me as a competitor, I’m focusing on the task at hand, I’m trying to get outs so the competitor in me wants to stay out there.”
Ross took a really aggressive method along with his in-game selections Tuesday, managing as if it had been a postseason elimination sport. He used Pete Crow-Armstrong to pinch-run for Mike Tauchman within the fourth, and the rookie acquired caught in a rundown off third base to finish the inning. He later known as on Patrick Wisdom to pinch hit for Crow-Armstrong within the eighth, forcing Wisdom to play first base and shifting Cody Bellinger to middle subject. Miles Mastrobuoni, already with a three-hit sport, put down a sacrifice bunt after Yan Gomes opened the eighth with a single; Mastrobuoni hit right into a fielder’s selection.
By the time the Braves acquired again into the sport within the sixth in opposition to Steele, momentum had shifted. The Cubs didn’t capitalize on their early lead. Gomes’ infield hit — his fifteenth of the 12 months, fifth on the group — adopted by Mastrobuoni’s single produced back-to-back two-out RBIs to place the Cubs forward 2-0 within the second. The Cubs added two extra runs off Braves starter Bryce Elder when Suzuki hit a third-inning triple. Bellinger (RBI single within the fourth) and Ian Happ (RBI single within the sixth) accomplished the Cubs scoring.
All season the Cubs have displayed the kind of resiliency wanted to go from 10 video games below .500 to being in playoff rivalry the ultimate week of the common season. It was examined after they misplaced the 13-inning heartbreaker Sept. 16 in Arizona, the defining second of the three-game sweep at Chase Field.
Do the Cubs have it in them once more to bounce again from a crushing loss?
“We have five more,” Smyly mentioned. “We need to dig deep.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com