ROCKIES ROAD
ROCKIES 2 CUBS 1
CHICAGO — Following batting practice Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, a worried Joe Maddon offered these words to the Post.
“If we hit, we can go to the World Series, if we don’t …’’ Maddon did not have to finish the sentence.
His Cubs did not hit against Colorado lefty Kyle Freeland and five relievers in the NL wild card game at Wrigley Field and shockingly are going home after losing, 2-1 to the Rockies in 13 innings.
This marked the longest postseason game in Wrigley Field history in time (4:55) and innings.
The Cubs tied it in the eighth 1-1 on a two-out RBI-double by Javier Baez.
The Rockies won it with three two-out singles in the 13th against Kyle Hendricks by Trevor Story, Gerardo Parra and Tony Wolters. Wolters had been hitless his last nine games of the regular season. It was that kind of night.
All this comes on the heels of the Cubs’ 3-1 loss to the Brewers Monday at Wrigley Field that gave the Brewers the NL Central crown and put the Cubs in the wild card. The Rockies will play the Brewers in the N LDS.
This game becomes an instant October classic. It had everything, including a Baez hug of Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado in the 11th on a fielder’s choice and as a result Arenado did not make a throw to first but the umpires let it slide. Freeland dominated for 6 2/3 innings on three day’s rest. He finished the regular season with a 2.85 ERA and a 17-7 record. He went 9-1 with a 2.49 ERA the second half. He kept it going in the postseason.
The Cubs just could not put anything together against Freeland.
“He’s a really good pitcher. I told his brother that last year and look where we are tonight,’’ Maddon said.
Maddon bought a trek bike last year from a store in Tampa where Freeland’s brother works. Yes, it can be a small major league world.
Maddon will get to use that bike a lot earlier than he wanted this October. Though this game marked the fourth consecutive postseason appearance for the Cubs, a franchise record, there are many questions. A 95-win season, the secondbest mark in the NL, means little because of the loss.
The manager pointed to the team’s grit after the loss but noted the offensive woes were consistent through the season.
“We just got a little bit challenged offensively at the end of the year and that hurt us but as a group and talented and the way we interact I couldn’t ask for more,’’ Maddon said. “We need to figure out the offense in the offseason. We left too much chicken on the bone. We had plenty of opportunities.
“I believe you will see a lot of these guys rebound next year offensively because they are pretty talented and they are young, and they are not hurt.’’
The Cubs will have to do some serious soul searching to find out why the offense disappeared at the most critical time of the year.
Before the game Baez sounded the alarm, saying, “We’ve got to stop worrying about other teams. We’ve got to go out there and have fun. We’ve got to go out there and compete. If we do that, there’s no team that can beat us, and they know that, so that’s why they run their mouth a lot, because they know we’re the best.’’
The Rockies scored in the first on a Charlie Blackmon walk surrendered by Jon Lester, an ivy-wall double to DJ LeMahieu that put Blackmon on third and a sacrifice fly to center by Arenado.
The Cubs had just three hits in their loss to the Brewers on Monday. They had six hits Tuesday night.
It was just two years ago that the Cubs broke their curse and won the World Series for the first time since 1908. Last year they ran out of gas in the NLCS. This year they could not make it to the NLDS.
Maddon is one of the game’s great free thinkers. While riding his trek bike this off-season, he will have much to ponder. His lost offense led to a lost season.