A Tip of the Recap – August 24th
It looked like the Cubs were going to win with 1-0 shutout win, but Jon Lester came up an out short of that scenario with the Indian’s tying the game at 1. All that did though was set the stage for a walk-off HR by Kris Bryant to give the Cubs the 2-1 win and stretch their winning streak to 5 games.
The Good
Jon Lester was outstanding and came oh so close to pitching a complete game shutout. He did give up the run with 2 outs in the top of the 9th to give him an outstanding line for the day. He went 8.2 innings and gave up the 1 run on 6 hits and 1 walk with 6 Ks. He was so efficient the whole game (just 97 pitches for 26 outs) and lowered his ERA to 3.44 on the year.
The bats were pretty quiet for most of the game, going hitless through 5.1 innings before David Ross broke through. The Cubs finally broke all the way through with a run in the 7th after a double from Chis Coghlan was followed by a triple from Anthony Rizzo in the RF corner to score Coghlan. It was Coghlan’s 19th double and Rizzo’s 3rd triple and 77th RBI.
The big hero of the day was Kris Bryant, who hit a 2-out walk off HR to RF for the win (his 2nd walk off HR of the month). It was his 20th HR and 75th RBI to go with a .262 AVG. He has crushed the month of August, hitting .338 with 6 HRs and 16 RBI in 21 games (wRC+ of 202, 100 is an average player).
The Cubs defense was outstanding today behind Lester, as the infield turned 4 double plays which really helped keep the pitch count as low it was. Starlin Castro got the start at short and played very well with Tommy La Stella at 2nd, who got called up in place of Jorge Soler.
The Bad
The injury bug bit hard today for the Cubs with Jason Motte and Jorge Soler both hitting the DL for what will be extended periods of time. Motte has a shoulder strain and will be out around 3 to 4 weeks and Soler has a strained oblique and will be out for at least a month. The Cubs called up Zac Rosscup and Tommy La Stella to take their spots, which will move Coghlan out to the OF instead of 2nd base and La Stella will get a chance to get the lion’s share of time at 2nd.
Dexter Fowler took a 93 MPH fastball off of his hand today from Kluber and looked like he was in immense pain, though he did stay in the game. Hopefully it will just be a bruise, because an extended absence from Fowler would be tough to overcome.
On Deck
The Cubs will head west for 3 against the Giants and then 3 against the Dodgers in a very important road trip. Game 1 with the Giants will be tomorrow night at 9:15 PM (CST) on CSN. Jake Arrieta (15-6, 2.30) will get the call for the Cubs against Matt Cain (2-3, 5.66) of the Giants.