Cubs bullpen bends, but doesn’t break as offense shows promise in win over Brewers
With reinforcements on the horizon, the Cubs offense showed some flashes Saturday afternoon.
But some of their bullpen worries continued.
The Cubs hit 3 home runs but struggles from Keegan Thompson and some shakiness from Héctor Neris made things interesting in their 6-5 win over Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon.
After a blown save Friday afternoon, the Cubs appeared to quickly be turning the page. Nico Hoerner hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 1st, then the Cubs drew 3 straight walks to load the bases. But they were only able to push across 1 run.
Christopher Morel added a 2-run blast in the 3rd, his fourth homer in his last 6 games and Patrick Wisdom crushed his first home run of the season in the 6th onto Waveland to run out to a 5-run lead.
That seemed to be enough with Jameson Taillon cruising. The righty turned in 6 shutout innings with 7 strikeouts, allowing just a pair of walks and 2 hits.
“He’s kind of matching Shota [Imanaga] frankly, with his starts,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I mean, they’ve been every bit as good and it’s been fun to watch. He’s really in control and his command is excellent.”
Taillon lowered his season ERA to 1.13 with a .182 batting averagae against in 24 innings this season. Imanaga has a 0.78 ERA and .172 battinga average against.
With the big cushion, Counsell opted to turn to Keegan Thompson on one day’s rest in the 7th inning. Thompson has struggled in his career pitching on short rest as a reliever and those struggles continued Saturday.
The righty failed to record an out and allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on a walk and 3 hits, including a home run. In 11 games pitching on 1 day of rest, Thompson has a 9.22 ERA and 2.05 WHIP.
“They were on the fastball a little bit today, again and they hit some balls hard,” Counsell said.
Counsell turned to Mark Leiter Jr., who has been the Cubs’ best reliever this season to quash the Brewers’ threat. Leiter allowed a single to Sal Frelick but then retired the next 6 hitters he faced.
“Just any life the other team could get going there, Leiter comes in, put a stop to it,” Taillon said. “And you could kind of feel that momentum shift happening and then he comes in and does a great job. Leiter’s just super experienced back there.
“You watch him throw and you feel like he knows where he doesn’t want to get beat and what strengths he wants to lean on and what areas he wants to live in and stuff. When I watch him pitch I just feel like you’re watching a dude who’s got a really good idea of who he is and what he’s doing. So that was huge.”
Neris allowed a run on a walk and 2 singles, but picked up his 6th save of the season for the Cubs.
Offensively, it was a more promising display from the Cubs.
The Cubs have struggled since Seiya Suzuki (right oblique strain) and Cody Bellinger (right rib fracture) landed on the IL. Both could be nearing a return, as Counsell said pregame “I think next week is definitely realistic for both of them.”
It would be a needed boon for the Cubs.
Bellinger and Suzuki have combined to miss 28 games so far this season. Both have been pivotal pieces of the Cubs offense. Suzuki had an .893 OPS with 3 home runs and 13 RBI before his injury and Bellinger is second on the team with 5 home runs and a .760 OPS.
Entering Saturday’s game, they were averaging 3.1 runs a game, 25th in baseball and their .596 team OPS was 24th since Bellinger’s injury. They had scored 2 or fewer runs in 4 of the 10 games prior to Saturday.
Saturday morning, the team optioned Matt Mervis to Triple-A and recalled Miles Mastrobuoni. Mervis had been called up to serve as a left-handed hitting option for Counsell and man the DH spot. But Mervis was 3-for-26 with a .302 OPS in his time with the big-league team.
“We’re certainly at a place and a stretch where we’re looking for offense, there’s no question about it,” Counsell said.
Wisdom served as the team’s DH on Saturday and provided an RBI single in the 8th, an insurance run after the Brewers’ salvo. But the best version of the Cubs’ offense is probably Mike Tauchman serving as the team’s designated hitter with Bellinger, Suzuki and Ian Happ in the outfield, with Wisdom available as a platoon option to Tauchmanagainst lefty pitchers.
The Cubs’ offense was one of their strengths last season. Their 819 runs were 6th in baseball. If they can return to health and perform like they showed on Saturday, it can help the team.
The ability to put up runs in bunches creates more room for error. Clinging to 1 or 2-run leads forces Counsell to turn to leverage arms regularly — like he did Saturday — and can lead to fatigue for them later in the season. Defensive miscues aren’t heightened as much if a team is holding on to a big lead.