Bullpen Woes Haunt Chicago Cubs in Penultimate Game
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Against the Cincinnati Reds any lead feels safe. They could finish the season with 100 losses, and with the way the Chicago Cubs had been playing, they may have felt confident to fly the "W" after the top half of the seventh inning.
Reds starter Luis Cessa had pitched admirably. In his final start of the 2022 season, the 30-year-old veteran allowed only one hit, but it was a big one. Through three innings he kept the Cubs off the basepaths barring a third inning walk.
Leading off the fourth though was slugger Willson Conteras, who blasted a home run to left-center field, opening the scoring.
Meanwhile, Cubs starter Javier Assad worked even more efficiently. Though he surrendered several more hits than Cessa, he kept the Reds off the board for 5.1 dominant innings, walking one and striking out four.
The game stayed at 1-0 until the seventh, when Reds reliever Fernando Cruz took the mound. In a cup of coffee at age-32, the rookie threw 14.2 innings for a 1.23 ERA, but he couldn't keep Nico Hoerner in the ballpark.
The Cubs' shortstop led off the seventh with a bomb to left field. It couldn't have come at a more reassuring time.
With one out in the bottom of the sixth, the Reds had loaded the bases with two walks and a hit after Keegan Thompson came in for Assad. But a strikeout of Donovan Solano and a pop up from Stuart Fairchild relieved the pressure.
Thus the Cubs went to the seventh safe in a 2-0 lead. Though that quickly evaporated after a Chuckie Robinson home run followed a Jose Barrero walk.
All the work the Cubs had put in to getting out of the sixth unscathed, gone in the blink of an eye.
Unable to get a run on the board after putting a runner in scoring position in both the eighth and ninth, the Cubs put in closer Brandon Hughes to keep things tied in the ninth. It didn't stay that way for long though.
Only five pitches later, the Reds walked off the field in celebration after a four pitch walk to Fairchild and a double from Spencer Steer brought him home.
In the final game of the season on Wednesday at 4:10, the Cubs will pitch Keegan Sampson and the Reds' Graham Ashcraft at 3:10 p.m. CDT.
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