Steele set to return, but Cubs lose more ground in playoff chase
The Cubs remain a conundrum, all the way to late September.
Not ready to concede a playoff spot, the plan is to bring back pitcher Justin Steele from the injured list to start Wednesday's series finale against Oakland. Steele has been out with left elbow tendinitis since Sept. 1.
Of course, these are the same Cubs that traded away Mark Leiter Jr. and released Hector Neris. Those two might have given some much needed help to the bullpen this month.
Steele's return is probably too late to salvage a spot in the postseason. The Cubs' wild card chances grew bleaker with Tuesday's loss to Oakland at Wrigley Field.
Some spectacular defense kept the game close, but the Cubs dropped a 4-3 decision, lost a game in the wild card race to the Mets and now are six games back with 11 to play.
Ian Happ hit two home runs, including one in the ninth inning off a 103-mile per hour heater from closer Mason Miller. According to Marquee Network's Chris Kamka, it was the fastest pitch hit for a home run in the StatCast era, since 2015.
“I was told (that fact), but at the time, that was not going through my head,” Happ said. “Yeah, that was pretty cool. He threw a couple good change-ups in the at-bat and a good slider. Just kept battling to stay alive and get something I could handle.”
Happ now has 25 home runs on the season, matching his career-high set in 2021. Happ and Nico Hoerner each had 3 hits.
On the defensive side, Hoerner ended the sixth inning by leaping high in the air to snag a line drive by Max Schuemann and turn it into a double play. Pete Crow-Armstrong made tough catches, both going to the wall and headed toward the infield, to keep the A's from scoring in the fourth.
StatCast gave the Schuemann line drive an expected batting average of .730, while the deep fly to center from Daz Cameron that was caught by PCA got a .620.
Starting pitcher Jordan Wicks had a decent outing, but continued to be bitten by the long ball. In his previous start, he allowed 4 home runs in the first inning at Dodger Stadium. This time, Wicks gave up 3 home runs, two by catcher Shea Langeliers.
“The misses were just big enough to get him into trouble,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He obviously got burned on pitches in the strike zone, just middle-middle pitches essentially. To their credit, they didn't hit singles with them, they hit homers.”
Wicks has spent most of this season on the injured list, was pressed into action when Steele was sidelined and has talked about trying to shake off the rust. This was Wicks' 10th start of the season and he did complete 5 innings with 4 earned runs allowed.
“I think tonight was definitely a step in the right direction,” Wicks said. “It was definitely better than it has been. Made a couple mistakes and they took advantage of it, credit to them. The changeup was a lot better today, really good to have that back.”
Before the game, the Cubs called up reliever Daniel Palencia from Iowa and sent down pitcher Trey Wingenter. Palencia threw two perfect innings Tuesday.