CLEVELAND – Between the strong beginning, a middle that put the Cubs in a hole, and a comeback attempt, the Cubs’ back-and-forth contest Monday against the Guardians mirrored their season overall.
The team hopes, however, that their 2024 campaign ends differently than their 9-8 loss to the Guardians.
“Any game you don’t win is a missed opportunity,” said Ian Happ, who homered, drew three walks and recorded two outfield assists Monday. “We played good baseball today, and sometimes that happens.”
In a rare turn of events, it was the starting pitching that fell flat. Left-hander Shota Imanaga, the Cubs’ lone All-Star this year, allowed seven runs in five innings. But if the Cubs can salvage a series win over the next two days, that would go a long way to put the Cubs in position to pull off an unlikely comeback. They would reach .500 for the first time since June 5 (31-31).
“We did make their bullpen work,” manager Craig Counsell said. “They had some guys they were staying away from tonight, probably. But we went through their bullpen pretty good. And, hopefully, that pays dividends later in the series.”
After the Cubs got out to an early lead, scoring a combined three runs on homers from Ian Happ and Pete Crow-Armstrong, the bottom of the fourth inning contained a host of what-ifs.
What if third baseman Isaac Paredes had picked the grounder hit to him with one out and one runner on? What if Imanaga’s 1-2 splitter at the bottom of the zone to Josh Naylor had been called a strike instead of a ball?
The answer: the Cubs would have gotten out of the inning with little to no damage.
Instead, Paredes committed an error, the ball bouncing off his glove to put José Ramírez on base. Naylor hit an RBI single in a full count. So, Imanaga had to face Jhonkensy Noel, who golfed out a splitter below the zone for a three-run homer.
Cleveland backed up that rally with another big inning. Austin Hedges hit a sharp groundball single past Paredes, and Steven Kwan launched a two-run homer.
Ramírez singled to right field and stole second base. There was no stopping him from scoring when David Fry hit a line drive into the left-field corner, but Happ fired the ball to second base to catch Fry trying to stretch his hit into a double, mercifully ending the inning.
“The first three innings, I felt good, but the [velocity] was a little down,” Imanaga said through an interpreter. “And in the fourth inning, velo was back up, but they started hitting the ball. So, baseball is difficult, where here you feel a little bit better, and they start hitting.”
Reliever Nate Pearson gave up a solo homer to Noel in the sixth to give Cleveland an 8-3 lead. But, undeterred, the Cubs cut the Guardians’ lead to one run the very next inning.
They loaded the bases for Nico Hoerner, who chopped an RBI single to shortstop Brayan Rocchio. Then Dansby Swanson extended to an outside slider and lifted it into the left-field corner. Two runs scored easily. And as Hoerner raced home, Rocchio’s relay throw bounced away from catcher Austin Hedges.
In the eighth, a walk from Happ, double by Patrick Wisdom and sacrifice fly from Seiya Suzuki tied the game.
The Guardians, however, retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Against reliever Julian Merryweather, who faced the minimum in the seventh, Ramírez hit a double into right field to lead off the inning. Back-to-back ground ball singles from Will Brennen and Josh Naylor pushed the winning run across the plate.
“It’s no fun,” manager Craig Counsell said of those hits finding holes, “but I thought Julian pitched well.”
The Cubs faced six relievers out of the best bullpen in the majors, including closer Emmanuel Clase, who has pitched in three straight games.
“To be able to claw back into that game against a really good bullpen, that speaks to the quality of the at-bats that the offense is having and our ability to keep fighting,” Happ said. “Keep doing that, we’ll be alright.”
