Bad loss. How it happened, what the match was and what the impact is. As long as the Cubs can win this series I expect not to sell, but dropping game one when Stroman takes on Matz is a problem. A big problem.
Also a problem: Patrick Wisdom’s glove in third place. Two misses and one that wasn’t quite a miss in the first three innings, but he made it for Wisdom, and the substitution not only cost Marcus Stroman three of his runs (only one of which was officially undeserved), but also saw Stroman bounce back early in the game. Not that Stroman didn’t cause some of his own problems out there, but the final powerline wasn’t a clear testament to his talent.
However, it was not Stroman’s best evening anyway, with command difficulties and many hard contacts. Yes, he had to grind more than usual, and it might be different if the first two innings are cruises instead of 25-pitch marathons. But sometimes that happens, and you don’t want to see a couple of innings’ worth of rockets afterwards. I hate to elaborate on this but let’s just hope he’s healthy and off to a good start on his next outing and let’s assure any potential buyers that this was just an incident.
Offensively, the Cubs couldn’t get going against Steven Matz, who had a terrible performance that year. That was about as frustrating as Stroman’s outing. Just a bad night all round.
Except for this one guy…
Complete box score.