Cubs go down swinging, still sweep
Two batters reach base after striking out against Osuna during 10th-inning rally
CHICAGO— The weekend at Wrigley Field was surely memorable for the thousands of fans that made the trek from the Great White North to the great North Side. On the field the Blue Jays may have been swept in three games, but they battled to the end, including an agonizing 6-5 extra-innings loss on Sunday.
Roberto Osuna struck out two batters in the 10th inning and both reached base, one on a wild pitch and one on a brain cramp by catcher Raffy Lopez who corralled the ball but forgot to throw down to first base for the out with the tying run perched on third. The Cubs scored three times against Osuna to complete the sweep.
The Cubs’ winning rally included two hits, one of them a two-run single by Justin Heyward, a walk, a hit batter and two strikeouts that resulted in baserunners. The biggest of the mistakes was failure by Lopez to execute the throw to first base that would have been the second out and given the Jays a chance to escape.
“It was definitely a tough inning,” Lopez understated. “A block has to be made and I just have to make a better throw to first, with the guy on third after I checked him. I was checking the runner and just made a bad throw and had to adjust my feet. I didn’t get my body in the best position to turn and throw to first.”
The Jays had taken the lead in the top of the 10th. With runners on first and second against Koji Uehara, Kevin Pillar ripped an opposite field single scoring shortstop Josh Donaldson, who slid head-first around the tag of Alex Avila. It was Pillar’s sixth hit of the series. Outfielder Nori Aoki walked with the bases loaded for an add-on run that ended up not mattering.
For Pillar, it was a great game and a great weekend from a personal standpoint, tempered by the fact his team was swept. The acrobatic centre fielder collected six hits in three games including the go-ahead RBI on Sunday, plus he made a highlight catch in the seventh inning on a dead sprint into the brick wall to haul in a drive by Kris Bryant. It was one for the ages.
“It was just an amazing weekend for me, personally, being able to go out there and play the way I feel like I should play every day,” Pillar said. “And to be able to do it in front of a lot of fans that travelled a long way and in front of my family that made the trip out here is something I’ll always remember.”
Jays starter Marco Estrada continued his game of catch-22. He wants to stay with the Jays and he wants to pitch well. But the better he pitches, the more likely he will be moved in a trade before the end of August to a team like the Astros that missed the non-waiver trade boat.
As has happened to Estrada more often than he would like to count, it all came down to one crumbly inning Sunday for the 34-year-old free agent-to-be.
Estrada waved the trainer back to the dugout, but hit Jon Jay with a pitch and threw wide on a bunt by Kyle Hendricks to load the bases. Albert Almora Jr. doubled past third baseman Jose Bautista, who was even with the bag, to clear the bases.
If Bautista had been positioned four steps deeper, he may have been able to start a double-play. Instead, Estrada trailed 3-0 with just one ball out of the infield.
The bottom line for Estrada on Sunday is that, with another quality start, his fourth in his last five outings, he again pitched well enough to win the game, well enough to stay with the Jays and well enough to be traded.
He allowed three runs and five hits in six innings, with a walk and four strikeouts.
The Jays’ offence, meanwhile, hung around and clawed back to tie the game in the sixth inning.
Justin Smoak led off the fourth with a double and Jose Bautista singled to centre field. Smoak delayed to make sure the ball landed but thirdbase coach Luis Rivera surprised the Cubs by waving him home. Anthony Rizzo was late arriving at the cut-off position and when he turned with time to throw Smoak out at the plate he slipped and went down as if shot by a sniper.
In the fifth inning, Nori Aoki doubled leading off. Estrada took a strike with Rizzo charging hard for the bunt. Estrada then faked a bunt and slapped a grounder to Javy Baez who flipped to third, but Aoki slid in safely. An Ezequiel Carrera double-play grounder scored Aoki.
In the sixth, catcher Miguel Montero proved that, actually, you can go home again, slamming a solo homer deep into the left-centre field bleachers to tie the game. It was his second homer with the Jays.
Montero, a World Series Game 7 hero for the Cubs a year ago, had been designated for assignment after he criticized some of his own pitchers for not holding runners on base.