I don’t want to be hasty. But I think Clay Holmes might be healthy. I mean it could also be that the Cardinal offense isn’t particularly terrifying. But he handcuffed them all day long. I don’t think I’m engaging in hyperbole to suggest that was one of the best starts this year by a Cub. It’s good too because the Cub offense is potentially in one of those funks that they occasionally have.
For the second straight day, the Cub offense was sluggish. We hat tip when we need to. Matthew Liberatore has now had two strong starts and two rough starts against the Cubs this year. I’m just not sure I’m ready to heap all of the credit on Liberatore after this offense lit him up twice in July and with how hot they’ve been recently. The only one nod I’ll make is that I was listening to the Cub radio broadcast and Ron Coomer noted that he does a lot of thinking through pitch sequencing and that Liberatore had him pretty confused. I guess maybe they went with a different playbook entirely seeing the same team for the fourth time in a year. That doesn’t happen anywhere near as often as it did years ago.
That’s an interesting thing about the modern game. For all of the good in modern pitching, guys have smaller pitch repertoires and they rely more on stuff now than they did in the past. When you don’t usually even finish three times through the order, you often don’t need so many different pitches. And pitchers rely more than effort on max effort fastballs and max spin breaking pitches. In the past there was a lot more playing with sequencing and location and changing speeds. It’s a different game. Often a very effective game. But I’m sure it’s hard when you have to keep facing the same team over and over again. Particularly for a younger pitcher and particularly against a good lineup.
That said, Liberatore was only a hair worse than Holmes. The big difference is that when the Cubs did finally get some runners, Seiya Suzuki hit a ball to the exact right spot at the exact right time. The wind had shifted to be a little bit more right to left and when he lofted one towards the left field line, it pushed just far enough for a three-run homer. It was about as timely as a homer can get.
Holmes eventually gave way to the Cub bullpen and we got to see Ryan Rolison, Ryan Zeferjahn and Jacob Webb in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. The Cubs haven’t had a ton of these hand a ball to the bullpen and protect a lead games. But they handled it. Not without a little breath holding. But they finished what Holmes started and shut the Cardinals out. The Cubs are 10-3 in August. Very much in the fight.
Go Cubs.
Three Positives:
- 6.2 innings of one hit, one walk baseball is just about as positive as it can get. Nice home debut Clay Holmes.
- Seiya Suzuki had the three-run homer and added a double. The Cubs only managed six hits and drew three walks.
- Michael Busch had a single and a walk.
Game 123, August 14: Cubs 3, Cardinals 0 (72-51)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Clay Holmes (.383). 6.2 IP, H, BB, 0 R, 3 K (W 1-1)
- Hero: Seiya Suzuki (.174). 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI, R
- Sidekick: Dansby Swanson (.093). 1-3, R, SB
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Pete Crow-Armstrong (-.132). 0-4
- Goat: Ian Happ (-.074). 0-3
- Kid: Michael Busch (-.042). 1-3, BB
WPA Play of the Game: Seiya Suzuki’s three-run homer with one out in the sixth. (.206)
Cubs Play of the Game: With first and third and no outs, just in front of the Suzuki homer, Matthew Liberatore got Pete Crow-Armstrong to pop out, temporarily conserving the shutout.
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 122 Winner: Aaron Civale received 33 of 66 votes.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
- Pete Crow-Armstrong +25
- Alex Bregman +20
- Carson Kelly +14.5
- Shōta Imanaga +14
- Trent Thornton +13.5
- Phil Maton -10
- Nico Hoerner -11
- Jameson Taillon -13
- Dansby Swanson -17
- Caleb Thielbar -19.5
Scoreboard Watching: The Phillies had a largely unheard of Friday off day after winning the Field of Dreams game Thursday. The Phillies started the day as the first non playoff team in the NL. The Diamondbacks beat the Braves 2-0, they remain seven back of the Cubs, the Braves two up. The Padres beat the Guardians 7-5. The Cubs are six up on the Padres. The Dodgers held on to beat the Brewers and the Cubs are back to just three games behind in the division. The Dodgers are also two up on the Cubs.
Up Next: Game two of the weekend three-game set. Matthew Boyd (8-1, 3.50) starts for the Cubs. He’s been unbelievable since getting healthy. He’s 5-0 with a 2.35 over his last seven starts (46 innings). He threw seven scoreless against the Cardinals in St. Louis on July 29. 26-year-old righty Michael McGreevy (4-9, 3.64) starts for the Cardinals. McGreevy is heading in the wrong direction (1-3, 4.91) over his last seven. The Cubs were part of that, scoring seven against him (in 1.2 IP) in St. Louis on July 28. You have to love this matchup.
Get another one.