Cubs keep it closer, but still lose 10th straight
The Cubs will be facing some ugly history Friday, as well as a nice family achievement.
The Cubs are riding a 10-game losing streak, while Atlanta will carry a 14-game win streak into Wrigley Field. The Cubs continued their losing pace with a 6-4 loss to San Diego on Thursday. The Padres completed a four-game sweep.
Meanwhile, Friday's game will be the first time brothers Willson and William Contreras will play against each other. This is William's third season in the majors, but he's never been up when the Cubs faced the Braves.
"It's like a dream coming true from my side, watching him play since he was a kid," Willson said. "This weekend is going to be a dream come true to play against each other. Hopefully it goes well for both. Mom and dad, they're going to be here. That's a huge achievement for the whole family."
The Contreras brothers are from Venezuela and there's five and a half years difference in age, so they didn't grow up playing on the same teams.
The Cubs kept things closer on Thursday, after getting trounced in the previous two games. They took a 1-0 lead on Christopher Morel's fifth home run, but eventually fell victim to Cy Young candidate Joe Musgrove, who improved to 8-0 on the season. Nomar Mazara and Jurickson Profar homered for the Padres.
It's been a trying year for the veteran Cubs, considering they lost 11 straight last June, then 12 in a row in August.
"I think this one you feel a little bit more snakebit with injuries," manager David Ross said. "This can be a negative game. So you have to try to find the positives in the small victories and continue to try to get better. We'll get some guys healthy, there will be better days ahead."
After allowing 11 runs in each of the previous two games, the Cubs bullpen kept it reasonable, giving up 2 runs over 5⅓ innings. Starter Matt Swarmer got in trouble with 5 walks and left in the fourth inning.
"I don't like to walk guys, I like to attack," Swarmer said. "I'd rather go right after a hitter and make them hit my best stuff. Today I wasn't getting ahead in the counts. I was kind of nibbling today instead of throwing with conviction."
Several Cubs talked about how the Padres came into this series hot, but Atlanta is even hotter. The Cubs will start Keegan Thompson coming off two poor outings in Baltimore and New York.
"This is the longest streak I've ever been on personally and we're not that bad of a team," reliever David Robertson said. "We just haven't put it together yet."
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