Cubs Pitching Struggles in Series Loss to Mariners
The Seattle Mariners came into Wrigley Field with the daunting task of facing this high-powered Cubs offense on a weekend where the wind was blowing out. However, Seattle, led by Cal Raleigh, was able to turn the narrative in their favor. The Mariners were able to out-slug the Cubs in their own ballpark and take two out of three games in what was a highly entertaining weekend series. This was a bit of an unexpected step back for the Cubs, so let’s take a dive into what went wrong for Chicago this weekend.
Uncharacteristic Defensive Miscues
One of the underappreciated reasons contributing to Chicago’s success this season has been their rock solid defense. This was far from the case this weekend. The Cubs made three errors over the course of the three-game series, which is very uncharted territory for a team that ranks tied for sixth in all of baseball in fielding percentage. Not to mention, that is not even counting the handful of fly balls that fell in the outfield because of miscommunication or trouble with the sun and wind, which all led to Seattle scoring opportunities. Offense and pitching will have their good days and their off days, but defense is one of the aspects of the game that Chicago has been able to rely on being there consistently. We just saw what can happen if that sense of reliability is not there, even for just a few games.
Pitching Needs To Get Back on Track
The Mariners racked up 45 hits over the course of the three games. That’s right, 45. The Mariners average just over eight hits per game on the season, and yet they averaged 15 hits per game this weekend. To be fair, the conditions to pitch were far from ideal, but the Cubs got to hit in the same conditions, and the Mariners’ pitching staff was able to avoid the crooked numbers. In their two losses in the series, the Cubs gave up three crucial runs in the ninth inning of game one, and then they allowed five runs in the eight innings of game three. Both of those deflating innings killed any momentum the Cubs had of mounting a comeback when scoring conditions made almost no lead feel safe. Yet, the Cubs’ pitching was unable to even keep the team in the game once it got to the ladder stages. The pitching staff will get a boost this week as they enter a critical four-game series with the Cardinals in St. Louis. Shota Imanaga is set to make his return from the injured list. Imanaga has not pitched in a big league game since early May when he injured his hamstring.
