Inside The Cubs

Moments That Mattered Most In Cubs' 3-0 Loss In Game 2 vs Padres

Key plays that swung the game as the Chicago Cubs lost 3-0 to the San Diego Padres in Game 2 of the National League Wild Card series on Wednesday.
Benjamin Rosenberg|
Matt Marton-Imagn Images

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Chicago CubsSan Diego Padres

Craig Counsell had a right-hander ready to go in the bullpen.

The Chicago Cubs trailed by a run in the fifth inning Wednesday, and San Diego Padres slugger Manny Machado was coming to the plate with first base open and two outs. It was not an ideal matchup for Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga, who has had problems keeping the ball in the yard all season and especially in his recent outings.

Michael Soroka had been warming up in Chicago's bullpen throughout the inning and could have come in to face Machado. Alternatively, the Cubs could have chosen to intentionally walk Machado and set up a more favorable matchup for Imanaga against left-handed hitter Jackson Merrill.

Instead, Chicago's manager opted to have Imanaga challenge Machado, and Imanaga's first-pitch splitter missed its spot, staying right over the heart of the plate. Machado did not miss it, crushing a 404-foot home run to the back of the left-field bleachers to extend the Padres' lead to three.

Counsell said he considered putting Machado on, but did not consider making the move to Soroka, who later retired both batters he faced in the ninth.

With the Cubs' bats unable to push any runs across against Dylan Cease and San Diego's league-best bullpen, the Padres forced a decisive Game 3 with a 3-0 victory. Jameson Taillon will start for Chicago on Thursday, opposed by former Cub Yu Darvish for San Diego.

"The result suggested we should have done something different," Counsell said. "(It was) really just confidence in Shota, plain and simple there. I thought he was pitching well. I thought he was throwing the ball really well. Unfortunately, he made a mistake."

Cubs can't cash in early opportunities

Manny Machado
Matt Marton-Imagn Images

Chicago's scoring chances were limited — the Padres held the Cubs to four hits, three of them singles — but the hosts did have a pair of opportunities early on to tie the game or take the lead. They wasted Dansby Swanson's leadoff single in the third, then threatened again in the fourth on Seiya Suzuki's two-out double.

That presented San Diego manager Mike Shildt with a similar quandary as the one Counsell would face an inning later. Shildt took more decisive action, choosing to intentionally walk Carson Kelly and bring Pete Crow-Armstrong to the plate. He summoned lefty Adrian Morejon from the bullpen to face Crow-Armstrong, who hit just .188 with a .594 OPS against southpaws during the regular season.

After chasing the first pitch way out of the strike zone, Crow-Armstrong fouled off the next offering, then laid off a slider. On a 1-2 count, he hit a harmless ground ball to first baseman Luis Arraez, who beat Crow-Armstrong to the bag for the third out.

"The confidence is in the same exact place it's been all year," Crow-Armstrong said. "The ebb and flow, the ups and downs of my offensive game, it's just the thing that I come and attack every day coming to the cage. I feel no pressure about making my individual mark, only because my goal is to play as long into October, and then hopefully early November, as I can."

Mason Miller unhittable again

The Padres made the ultimate all-in move at the trade deadline when they acquired Mason Miller from the Athletics in exchange for top prospect Leo DeVries and three other prospects. Miller has justified San Diego's aggressiveness in this series, striking out the side in the seventh inning of Game 1 and then outdoing himself Wednesday.

Miller's fastball can exceed 104 miles per hour, but slider might be even better, with batters hitting just .108 against it and whiffing on more than 54 percent of their swings. He struck out Suzuki, Kelly and Crow-Armstrong in dominant fashion in the seventh, then fanned Swanson and pinch-hitter Moises Ballesteros in the eighth.

He and Morejon have pitched both Tuesdsay and Wednesday, but they will still likely be available Thursday if the situation calls for them. Closer Robert Suarez, who recorded a four-out save, will certainly be good to go with both teams' seasons on the line.

"It's about being opportunistic," Swanson said, "and not missing pitches when you get them."

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Benjamin Rosenberg
BENJAMIN ROSENBERG

Benjamin Rosenberg attended his first game at Wrigley Field before he even knew what a baseball was, and has maintained a strong passion for baseball and the Cubs ever since. He grew up in both suburban Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area, and graduated with both bachelor’s and master's degrees in journalism from Northwestern University in 2021. Benjamin has covered just about every high school and college sport imaginable all over the United States, with a particular focus on softball. He was named the 2022 New Hampshire Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.

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