Cubs errors light the corners of my mind
Misty Wrigley-colored memories of the way the Cubs were
Scattered pictures of the dropped balls left behind
Smiles we gave to one another for the way the Cubs were
Reds 13 Cubs 6  |  FanGraphs  | Streisand and Redford
The Michael Lorenzen on the mound for the Reds tonight for the first four innings bore no resemblance to the pitcher we saw 20 days ago in San Diego. Then his fastball averaged 92 mph. Remember that concern? Tonight, Lorenzen threw 95-96. In San Diego, he struck out one and walked two. Tonight through four, Lorenzen whiffed four Cubs hitters and … drumroll please … had walked no one. Remember how Lorenzen wasn’t challenging hitters? Tonight he was constantly ahead. He struck out Anthony Rizzo twice, challenging him with pure heat. Remember the pitch count problem? Not tonight. The one run Lorenzen had given up was to Dexter Fowler, who hit the cheapest home run in the history of cheap home runs.
In the fifth, Joe Maddon intentionally walked Joey Votto to load the bases with two outs. Brandon Phillips’ ground ball snuck by the Cubs third baseman, driving in two runs. Roll the dice and take your chances. BP eats breakfast 300 yards from 4000 Cubans who are trained to kill him. Reds 3-1.
It had looked like Michael Lorenzen was ready to make his pitch for 2016. But when he was batting in the top of the fifth, he was hit on the right hand by an 88-mph sinker by Kyle Hendricks.
Whether being hit had anything to do with it, we won’t know. But Lorenzen gave up four runs in the bottom of the fifth and didn’t finish the inning. If you look up “buzz kill” in the dictionary, that half inning is there. Cubs 5-3.
But the cavalry was on the way. Cubs reliever Justin Grimm, who hadn’t realized Jake Arrieta was pitching a no-hitter last night until after the game, had given up two home runs all year but gave up a pair of 2-run bombs in the sixth inning tonight. One was by Eugenio Suarez, who is battling a recent slump.
The other home run was by Adam Duvall in his first at bat for the Reds. Duvall was part of the Mike Leake trade with the Giants. Duvall has a big bat, but struggled at AAA Louisville (Duvall’s hometown and college town). The Reds have been playing short-handed for more than a week with Brennan Boesch sidelined with an ankle injury. The wonders of a full roster. Reds 7-5
Votto reached base four out of five PA, raising his OBP to .456. He’s about to take over the NL lead in that category. Jason Bourgeois had three hits. Ivan De Jesus had a hit and two walks. Tucker Barnhart had three hits (the last one batting right handed!) and gunned down a runner to end the eighth inning.
The Reds scored six unearned runs in the top of the ninth. At least tonight, the Cubs cubbed.
I’ll let Doug Gray handle the last part:
So, with the Reds eleventy-billion games out of 1st place, now is when we see Chapman come out for more than a 3-out save attempt?
— Doug Gray (@dougdirt24) September 1, 2015
Aroldis Chapman recorded five outs. It didn’t happen until the Game Number 130 of 2015, but Bryan Price finally used Aroldis Chapman to get more than three outs to earn a save this year. The win means they remain 30.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals.