HITTERS STILL CAN’T GET OVER HILL
Lefties continue to cause problems as team manages only two hits against former Cub
LOS ANGELES — The Cubs saw some of this coming in August.
To be clear, nobody in the clubhouse saw the 6- 0 loss Tuesday night to reinvented ex- Cub Rich Hill and the Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.
But the Cubs saw a tough playoff rematch looming when they left Dodger Stadium in August after struggling for three games against their pitching, even without having faced Clayton Kershaw all year.
“We would have our hands full because of all the lefties they have,” Ben Zobrist said at the conclusion of that series.
By the time one of those lefties, Hill, was through six scoreless innings Tuesday, Zobrist had never looked like a swami. And by the time Kenley Jansen retired Chris Coghlan on a liner to third for the final out, the Cubs’ lineup looked lost.
They haven’t scored since Miguel Montero and Dexter Fowler hit back- to- back homers in the eighth inning of Game 1. And nowthey face hard- throwing rookie left- hander Julio Urias on Wednesday, trailing 2- 1 in the best- of- seven series.
“There’s no panic in here,” Kris Bryant said.
Easy for him to say. He had both hits against Hill, and he’s been the best- hitting Cub in the postseason ( 10- for- 28).
Montero called the lack of production “very surprising.” He thinks some of the hitters are, pressing, “trying to be heroes,” and it’s putting more pressure on the pitchers and catchers to try to be perfect.
This is the first time this year the Cubs have been shut out in back- to- back games.
The part that’s not uncharted is this: The last team to shut them out was the Dodgers. In fact, the Dodgers have four of the eight shutouts against the Cubs this year.
And while Game 4 Dodger starter Urias hasn’t shut the Cubs out, he beat them with a dominant performance on Aug. 27 in the same ballpark.
“We may be a little unhappy about how the game transpired,” said starter Jake Arrieta, who gave up a pair of costly home runs but otherwise pitched well into the sixth inning. “But guys will get back to their families at the hotel and decompress and prepare for tomorrow.”
Either way, they’re going to have to try to find a way to beat a Dodgers lefty at least once in the next two days to assure a return to Wrigley Field for a Game 6. Kershaw’s waiting in the wings for Game 5 if the Dodgers decide they need him on short rest.
Zobrist’s August concerns seem counter- intuitive, given the Cubs’ better hitting, on- base and power numbers against left- handers overall this season. But the Dodgers’ lefties, he said, present especially tough matchups for the Cubs.
“They pitch up with their heater in the zone, and they’ve been
pretty solid staying in the strike zone with those, and just above the strike zone,” he said during Monday’s workout day. “And they have big slow curves or, like Urias, eup the change. His changeup vs. his heater, what we saw the last game [ was tough].” Said Bryant: “They just keep ut running ou pitcher after pitcher, and they’re pretty good. But I think we’re going into this game [ 4] very confident.”
Hill with his slow curve kept the Cubs at bay with little in the way of a scoring chance.
He allowed a runner to get into scoring position only once, in the second after a pair of walks. Beyond that he gave up a two- out single to Kris Bryant in the third and a oneout single to Bryant in the sixth.