Enhanced Box Score: Cubs 7, Brewers 6 - July 4, 2023
Let me be perfectly honest. I did not think there was a chance that the Cubs could win today AND I would feel completely good about it. I figured, AT BEST, the Cubs might pull out a win, and I would simply be more angry about yesterday’s blown game.
BUT THEY FOUND A WAY TO THRILL ME!
OK, so you had the Cubs blowing a four-run lead in this one, which is at least an improvement over blowing a six-run lead yesterday. But when the Cubs did blow it, I figured that was that. Cooked. Completely cooked. I had ZERO hopes for extra-innings, especially after that Jared Young lined out double-play. Heck, here’s what I wrote at that time:
“Jared Young, lining into a leaping double-play in the 10th inning with two runners on, immediately after the Cubs had blown the game on seeing-eye grounders in the 9th inning, was it for me. The Cubs are troubled enough on their own this year, they don’t need the gods effing with them, too.” And I was gonna include this as a punctuation:
Jared Young's lineout double play: .760 expected average
Brewers' 6 hits in the 8th-9th topped out at .480 expected average — Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) July 4, 2023
BUT THEN HOLY CRAP THE BOTTOM OF THE 10th AND THE BOTTOM OF THE 11th!!! That is the kind of thing where, if it were happening AGAINST the Cubs, you might call it a turning point. I am losing my mind.
So you had this BONKERS double-play to end the bottom of the 10th and also save the game:
And then, after Nico Hoerner drove in a run in the top of the 11th, you had Ian Happ doing it AGAIN to finish the game:
DON'T TEST IAN HAPP! 😤
Happ and Amaya combine for a second time to end the game! pic.twitter.com/z3QSJSAWq5 — Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 4, 2023
UNBELIEVABLE. THAT IS JUST A MIRACLE WIN, SALVAGED OUT OF A DISASTER.
Whew. I gotta collect myself. I was prepared to feel so differently. I also gotta wrap my head around the crazy stuff, like Mike Napoli getting enraged by a strike two strikeout call (as in, Dansby Swanson was called out on strike two) and getting himself kicked from the game right after Nico Hoerner had given the Cubs the lead in the 11th. It was crazy.
OK. Resetting things. Let’s see.
Kyle Hendricks was great again through six innings, allowing just two runs, one earned. One of those runs came on a completely BS William Contreras “single” and a throwing error on Miguel Amaya, which was absolutely runner interference, by the way.
Speaking of which, the whole day for the Brewers was groundball hit after groundball hit, and there was so much BABIP luck in that. That isn’t me making excuses – not after the stretch the Cubs have had – but it’s the reality. Just the way it was today. When the other team has runners on base and can put the ball in play, sometimes good things happen for them. It’s annoying as shit, though.
We got to see Daniel Palencia’s big league debut in about as tough as the circumstances get. Not sure how much we can evaluate from it, but he certainly didn’t shy away from the big moment in the 10th and the 11th.
Contributions up and down the lineup today, too. Multi-hit games for Hoerner, Swanson, Suzuki (nice to see), and Bellinger. Nice bounce-back for Julian Merryweather, too. I have to catch my breath.
Full box score.
Source: bleachernation.com
