Alzolay at his best, but Cubs lose another 1-run decision
It's a little odd that a disappointing loss to an archrival can also include great news.
But that pretty much explains the Cubs' 2-1 loss at St. Louis on Saturday. They got likely the best performance of Adbert Alzolay's young career. He went 7 innings, allowing just 5 hits and no walks, but a home run by veteran catcher Yadier Molina in the seventh made the difference as the Cubs left eight on base.
"Overall to be honest, I felt that today was my best game so far, I was completely in control of all my pitches," Alzolay said.
"I feel it was a really, really special moment fro me today."
So what do you tell someone when they pitch so well and still come out with the loss?
"You tell him, 'Nice job. Way to throw the ball,' were my words," Cubs manager David Ross said. "I thought he threw the ball great. I think there's some learning experiences in that outing that he'll take away, continue to grow from that. I thought it was a spectacular outing from him. Just came up a little short. Really, a couple bad pitches in a really nice night for him. Sometimes that's how it goes in the big leagues. You can pitch really well and still lose."
Alzolay's slider was sharp, which has been the case most of the year. He said he was mixing in change-ups and fastballs with success as well. The variety of pitches is a necessity to go deeper in games, which he's been striving to accomplish.
"You can pitch for contact too," Alzolay said. "I guess I've been pounding the strike zone a lot lately. You get those guys early in counts to swing. So I feel that being able to execute my pitches early in the count to get good results has been helping me to get deeper in the games. I'm just looking for the strikeout whenever we need it."
Getting length from the starters has been an issue for the Cubs early this season. But they finally got two days in a row when Kyle Hendricks and Alzolay lasted into the seventh inning.
"He probably could have given another inning if we needed it," Ross said of Alzolay. "So that was just another step in the right direction. I think the challenges for any young pitcher is you continue to face the lineup the third time through is remember how you pitched them earlier on, what you want to get them out with, but teasing them with other pitches.
"Trying to maybe give them what they want, maybe out of the zone. There's a lot of picking the guys that have taken good swings off of you and navigating the lineup that way and maybe getting to the next guy who may not be as comfortable. You don't have to get everybody out, you just have to get three outs in an inning."
The Cubs scored their lone run in the first inning on a hit batsman and two singles. Javy Baez got the RBI. After scoring 12 runs on Friday and teeing off on the Cardinals bullpen, the Cubs had no luck in this game against five St. Louis pitchers.
Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas was on the mound for the first time in a couple years because of an injury. He settled down after the first inning, but went to the mound to start the fifth and then left the game before throwing a pitch.
Meanwhile, the Cubs are 11-6 since May 4, but their last seven losses have all been by 1 run.
"It's a win and a loss," Anthony Rizzo said. "It doesn't matter if it's by 1 run, 2 runs, 20 runs. I thin the big losses are a little easier to flush. We just didn't hit today. It's day by day. We don't really let those numbers, the 1-run or 2-run ballgames affect us. We weren't there tonight offensively."
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls