Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (6/3/23): Padres 6, Cubs 0 – Darvish Dominates Weak Lineup

The Cubs tried to build on a low-scoring victory over the Padres Friday with a win against former teammate Yu Darvish at Petco Park Saturday. Unfortunately, Darvish was able to dominate a underwhelming Chicago lineup and San Diego won easily.

Drew Smyly was not quite as sharp as he has been and the Padres got to him in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Brandon Dixon hit a sacrifice fly and Trent Grisham doubled to give the home team a 2-0 advantage that was more than enough to win. Fernando Tatís Jr. blasted a solo home run in the 3rd to increase the lead and put the game on ice from a psychological perspective.

Darvish allowed just two infield hits in seven shutout innings against his old team, which wasn’t at all surprising. Tatis crushed a second homer, this one a three-run shot against Jeremiah Estrada in the bottom of the 8th to put a cherry on top of the victory. (Box score)

Key Moment

With the Cubs’ lineup creating such a disadvantage from the start, it felt like Smyly had to be perfect Saturday. That’s why it seemed like the game was over when he allowed two runs early, which it basically was.

Why the Cubs Lost

The offense was non-existent and they did not even have a decent scoring chance to make things interesting.

Stats That Matter

• Smyly was fine and came up an out shy of a quality start: 5.2 IP, 3 R, 7 H, 4 K, and 3 BB.
• Edwin Ríos is hitting .071 with a .449 OPS and has 17 strikeouts in 29 at-bats.

Bottom Line

The lineup on Saturday featured four players with batting averages below .200, and three hitters had an OPS below .500. That just isn’t an acceptable order for anyone trying to field a competitive team. It is very frustrating to enter a game feeling like the manager and front office gave up on it before it started, but maybe they will learn a lesson from this result.

On Deck

Game three of the series is Sunday at 4:30pm CT. Marcus Stroman takes the mound against lefty Ryan Weathers and the matchup airs on Marquee and 670 The Score.