LOS ANGELES – A runner thrown out on the plate within the ninth, a line drive that was caught as an alternative of driving in two runs, and identical to that the Cubs misplaced once more on the highway – this time 3-2 to the Dodgers on Sunday evening.
It dropped them to 2-5 throughout this two-city journey – 3-10 over their final two highway journeys – and dropped them a recreation behind first-place Milwaukee within the National League Central.
But contemplating a few of their bullpen points and prolonged absences of Ben Zobrist and Pedro Strop within the first half, supervisor Joe Maddon received’t complain about the place the group stands three weeks earlier than the All-Star break.
“We’re not in a bad spot,” supervisor Joe Maddon mentioned. “Normally we do play pretty well in the second half. We’ve been missing some key components, and our road record – I don’t have a solid reason for it. But moving forward we’ve got [closer Craig] Kimbrel on the horizon, [setup man Pedro] Strop feeling better and the team on the field is generally in good health right now.”
Kimbrel, the elite nearer signed final week to a three-year, $43 million deal, traveled Sunday to Sacramento, the place he’s scheduled to pitch for Class AAA Iowa on Tuesday. That places him on monitor to presumably be a part of the Cubs’ bullpen by the tip of the upcoming 10-game homestand.
Until then, the Cubs can have a look at the Dodgers and know the probably job at hand when/in the event that they get to October.
They went 3-Four throughout their season sequence towards the Dodgers, together with 2-2 in one-run video games.
“We’ve got similar teams and it’s going to be really close games most of the time against them,” mentioned Javy Baez, whose laborious line drive to heart with males at second and third was caught by Alex Verdugo to finish the sport.
“We’re probably going to see them in the playoffs so we’ve got to get used to this competition.”
Not to say discover a strategy to win highway video games.
Granted, the Cubs have confronted particularly good groups in powerful locations to play on latest journeys, together with Colorado, Houston and St. Louis.
“They are good, but we’ve got to figure out a way to finish them off,” Maddon mentioned. “We played a lot of good games on this trip, but only won two of them. We’re better than that. We know we’re better than that. We’ve just got to keep pushing it. But I cannot lament today’s game.”
Said Baez: “We’ve just got to let the game come back to us and not try so hard. And we’re going to be all right I think.”
If the Cubs see the Dodgers once more, each groups determine to look totally different – the Cubs maybe considerably so.
Consider, for example, that the Dodgers have a more in-depth with 21 saves earlier than the Cubs have a more in-depth.
Working his third consecutive ninth inning on Sunday, All-Star Kenley Jansen escaped the Cubs’ bid for a second consecutive ninth-inning comeback towards him.
“As we get our new member of the bullpen, I think our bullpen possibly flips in our favor,” Maddon mentioned of Kimbrel. “Starting pitching I feel is fairly equal. The group on the sector – I feel athletically we’re higher up the center. …
“It’s actually shut,” he added. “The National League – it’s like looking in a mirror. All the teams are kind of built the same way. I think you have to gain your edges in the bullpen.”
The last phrase (ICYMI version)
After being proven a quote Friday from former faculty roommate Dylan Covey of the White Sox saying “We definitely want to beat [the Cubs], no doubt, every single time,” Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant responded:
“I didn’t even know we played them next week.”
Notes: Infield prospect Nico Hoerner, final 12 months’s first-round draft choose, had a splint faraway from his injured hand in latest days and might be again on the sector by early July. He suffered a fracture when hit by a pitch April 23. …Maddon mentioned the membership expects to have a choice by Tuesday on the way it will fill injured Kyle Hendricks’ rotation spot on the finish of the week. Hendricks is on the 10-day injured listing with shoulder…