Walks sunk Wicks in his third start of season
SEATTLE — Cubs left-hander Jordan Wicks is getting swing-and-miss, especially on his changeup and slider. But he has yet to pitch deep into a game this season.
Walks sunk Wicks’ third start in a 4-2 loss Friday to the Mariners. Seattle scored all four runs against Wicks, who pitched four innings, tied a career high with four walks and hit a batter for the first time in his young major-league career.
“Essentially the game boiled down to a couple of chances where he was ahead in the count, and it ended up in two walks and a hit by pitch,” manager Craig Counsell said.
The first instance came in the second inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Wicks got to a 1-2 count against Luis Urias. But he hit him with a slider, pushing the first run across the plate. Wicks got out of the inning without further damage.
Then in the fourth inning, up 0-2 against Dylan Moore, Wicks buried a changeup in the dirt — a fine attempt to get Moore to chase but no luck. Wicks threw three more low changeups to walk Moore.
Then facing J.P. Crawford with two outs, Wicks got to an 0-2 count before issuing a walk.
“The walks are the ones that really drive me nuts,” Wicks said. “I feel like we’ve got way too good of a defense for me to let people on via walk.”
The walks extended the inning and put runners on base for Julio Rodriguez and Ty France to drive in for a three-run fourth.
“He’s got a lot of talent,” catcher Yan Gomes said. “He’s definitely got a pretty good arsenal that he can just attack the zone [with] even more.
‘‘And sometimes when the strikeouts aren’t coming as easy, we can just go get an early out.”