2024 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 113

Heavy sigh. Once again, the Cubs had things in position to win a game and let it get away. That will be the enduring memory of this season. The crushing number of blown leads late has derailed this team over and over again. The Cubs had the opportunity to get back to three under .500. The last time they reached that point was July 12.

All of the usual suspects showed up in the loss. Working from last to first more or less, Porter Hodge was on the mound for the biggest part of the disaster. He was charged with three runs, two earned. He allowed a pair of hits, a walk and hit a batter. Even with this outing, he maintains a 2.74 ERA and a 2.91 FIP. He’s been quite good. But he failed to protect the lead. In 20 appearances, he’s allowed runs on only three occasions. Two of those have been against the Cardinals.

The defense also reared its ugly head and contribute to the carnage. Isaac had a wild throw that contributed to Hodge’s inning. That was followed up with a pop up that got into no man’s land between Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner. The instinct to let Pete Crow-Armstrong catch anything is understood, but that probably should have been Hoerner’s ball. Regardless, they failed to make a catch that would have preserved a two-run lead.

But the offense remains the wider problem. The Cubs managed just five hits and a walk. They did manage four runs due to sequencing, a triple and a homer. 11 total bases and a stolen base is simply not going to get you four runs very often. And even four runs wasn’t enough in this game.

All too many times these three elements have worked together to ruin what could have been a pretty decent team. This team is missing at least one elite bat and at least one elite reliever. To be fair, I’d have bet between Julian Merryweather, Yency Almonte and Adbert Alzolay that they’d have had at least one elite reliever and I’d have expected at least two. Injuries happen and every team deals with them.

I just can’t linger at this crime scene. We’ve seen it all too many times this year. Again, the Cubs have fumbled away their momentum and the opportunity to make any forward progress. Somehow the destiny of this team is living through its own Groundhog Day. Reliving the same sad story over and over again.

There was a late lead, so there were definitely some positives here.

1. Jameson Taillon was quite good. Six innings, six hits, no walks, one run. This was another great example of carrying momentum forward in the form of a starting pitcher.
2. Michael Busch had two hits, one a two-run homer.
3. PCA had an RBI triple. He then scored a run. He’s hit .308/.333/.500, wRC+ 130, over his last eight games. Still a very small sample, but so much reason for optimism.

Game 113, August 3: Cards 5, Cubs 4 (54-59)

Fangraphs

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Jameson Taillon (.183). 6 IP, 24 batters, 6 H, R, 4 K, BK
• Hero: Michael Busch (.157). 2-3, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Sidekick: Pete Crow-Armstrong (.105). 1-3, 3B, RBI, R

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Porter Hodge (-.324). IP, 7 batters, 2 H, BB, 3 R, 2 ER, K
• Goat: Hector Neris (-.299). IP, 4 batters, H, R (L 8-4)
• Kid: Cody Bellinger (-.115). 0-4

WPA Play of the Game: Tommy Pham’s triple leading off the ninth inning set the table for the final death blow. (.283)

*Cubs Play of the Game: Michael Busch batted with a runner on first and on outs in the bottom of the first. He turned a one run deficit into a one run lead. (.163)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Yesterday's Winner: Christian Bethancourt received 137 of 167 votes.

Rizzo Award Cumulative Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Seiya Suzuki +17.5
• Shōta Imanaga +15.5
• Jameson Taillon +12
• Ben Brown/Mark Leiter Jr./Michael Busch +11
• Miles Mastrobuoni -9
• Adbert Alzolay/Miguel Amaya -10
• Kyle Hendricks -14
• Christopher Morel -20.5

*Jameson Taillon moves up into third, Busch moves into a tie for fourth, PCA up to -6.5. Hodge down to +5, Neris down to -6.5, Bellinger down to +4.

Up Next: The Cubs can still win the series with a victory tonight. Otherwise, they’ll have to settle for a split. Justin Steele (2-5, 3.38) faces Miles Mikolas (8-8, 4.99) in the finale of this series.