CI Recap (4/28/17) – Red Sox 5, Cubs 4: Missed Opportunities Cost Cubs

The Cubs and Red Sox, two of baseball’s most historic franchises, duked it out at Fenway for the first of a three-game weekend set, and it was a rocky game with tons of missed opportunities.

It started on a bright note when Kris Bryant crushed a solo home run over the Green Monster in the top of the 1st inning, giving Jake Arrieta an early cushion. That lead disappeared just as fast as it came, however, when Arrieta gave up a solo shot to Andrew Benintendi in the bottom of the inning.

That tied the game, but it didn’t end there. Oh no, it did not end there, it just kept on going. The next six batters reached and Arrieta found himself with a 5-1 deficit after a 42-pitch first inning.

The Cubs got a small burst of life when Albert Almora Jr. smashed a ball over the wall for a solo shot, making it a 5-2 ballgame.

That concluded the scoring until the top of the 7th inning, when the Cubs got two more runs to inch that much closer. Almora led off the inning by walking and would later scamper to third on a single by Anthony Rizzo. He went on to score the Cubs’ third run on a wild pitch by Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly. Rizzo moved up to second on that play and scored on a single by Ben Zobrist to make it a one-run ballgame.

Unfortunately, the Cubs squandered scoring chances in the 8th and 9th innings and fell to the Red Sox 5-4 in game one.

Stats that mattered

• The Red Sox put up a big number in the 1st to set the tone of the game, and that was enough for them to walk away with the win.
• The Cubs were able to turn three double plays, which kept them in the game. One of them came in the bottom of the 4th inning when Jake Arrieta needed it the most, getting him out of a bases-loaded jam.

Bottom line

The Cubs lost because they didn’t take advantage of scoring opportunities. They stranded runners in scoring position in each of the last three innings.

On Deck

John Lackey, who played for the Red Sox from 2010-2014, will oppose them for the first time since 2008. He will be challenged by right-hander Steven Wright at 3:05 CT on ABC 7 and 670 The Score.