Fans show up, Cubs don’t; second half begins with loss to Arizona
Fans are doing their part to try to push the Cubs to a winning season.
A crowd of 40,691 showed up Friday for the team's return from the all-star break. It was the 28th straight game with a crowd of at least 34,000 at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs went into the break winning eight of 11 games, and the pieces seemed to be in place for continuation, with Justin Steele on the mound against Arizona. But Steele's string of stellar starts came to an end and the Cubs lost 5-2.
The left-hander had piled up seven straight quality starts. On Friday, though, he gave up 9 hits and 5 earned runs in 4 ⅔ innings. It was his shortest outing since May 11 in Pittsburgh.
“I was kind of fighting my command with my four-seam and sinker a little bit early on,” Steele said. “Wasn't quite getting the four-seam in on the righties like I was wanting to; leaving it a little bit over the plate, giving them a chance to do their job and put barrel on the ball.”
Steele got out of a jam in the first inning, keeping the Diamondbacks scoreless after they put runners on first and third with nobody out. He retired the side in order in the second and Cubs fans probably expected to settle in for a low-scoring game.
But Arizona kept pecking away, scoring 3 runs in the third on five singles. Three more hits and a walk made it 5-0 in the fifth. Catcher Gabriel Moreno collected 3 straight hits and is now 7-for-8 with 3 doubles in his career against Steele.
“They had a good approach and were clearly trying to stay inside the ball, take him the other way,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He just didn't get a bunch of pitches all the way in and they did a nice job with that.”
The Cubs couldn't get much going early against Arizona starter Ryne Nelson. When they did mount a few rallies, some tough calls squelched any excitement in the air.
In the sixth, the Cubs put runners on first and second with one out. Ian Happ took a 2-2 pitch for a called third strike, although the ball was clearly outside the zone. Christopher Morel followed with an RBI single, but that was all they could get.
In the eighth, the Cubs loaded the bases with nobody out. Happ drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, then Morel took a 2-2 pitch for a called third strike. Again, the pitch was low and out of the zone.
“I think there were some big calls in this game that were called incorrectly,” Counsell said. “Ball-strikes that were just missed.”
The Cubs brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but Arizona's Paul Sewald ended the game with a pair of swinging strikeouts.
“It's a little frustrating, because you want the (umpires) to do their job, just as much as we're trying to do our job,” Morel said with the help of translator Fredy Quevedo. “Just try to control what I can control.”
For Steele, he mentioned trying to correct some of Friday's flaws during his bullpen session between starts. He said there are square barriers to put over the middle of the strike zone to emphasize getting the four-seam on the inside corner to right-handed hitters.
“Obviously when you're in a groove, you would like to just keep building,” Steele said. “There's days when you're pitching and things are going well, you just want to go ahead and log all your innings in that start.”
It's also getting late for the Cubs (47-52). They're not far from wild-card contention, but can't afford to drop many series the rest of the way.
“We're in a very similar situation as we were last year,” Steele said. “We really believe in the group we've got in there. It's a lot of the same guys from last year and we made some additions. So I'd say we're better on paper, we've just got to put wins in the column.”