OSS: Cubs offense gets ahead of the Cubs pitching, for one day at least. Three up: Jason Heyward, of all people, had a big day at the plate, going 3-3 with two homers and two walks. Between this and his garbage time HR yesterday, he has brought his slash line up to .370/.419/.704. Hopefully he manages to gets some more …
Rockies 2, Cubs 1
OSS: Not with a bang but a whimper. Three up: The Cubs pitching staff came to play today. Jon Lester got the start and stepped up by allowing just one run in six innings, striking out nine. Joe pinch hit for him in the bottom of the sixth, which was easily the right move, but the Cubs blew their chance …
Cubs 8, Cardinals 4
OSS: Cyle takes care of business, the Cardinals defense not so much. Three up: Kyle Hendricks threw eight innings, striking out just two but mostly limiting the damage by the Cards offense. Most importantly, he limited the Cubs bullpen from making an appearance, as all of the semi-reliable guys left on the roster had pitched in the past few games. …
Cubs 3, Pirates 0
OSS: Cubs get just enough, stretch division lead to one game. Three up: David Bote had the big hit of the day, a two out triple that put the Cubs on the board in the second inning. The Pirates put Schwarber on to start the inning thanks to some outfield miscommunication between Marte and Osuna, and for a while it …
Cubs 7, Pirates 6
OSS: Cubs clinch playoff spot, hang on to a razor-thin half game lead, cause everyone to tear their hair out. Three up: The bats finally woke up, courtesy of a first inning opposite field home run by Jason Heyward. Despite the first inning home run, Quintana had a solid start. He struck out four with no walks in five innings, …
Cubs 6, White Sox 1
OSS: The Cubs give Hawk Harrelson a fitting send-off. Three up: Kyle Hendricks continued his solid string of starts, allowing one run and striking out five in 7.2 innings. The rest of the Cubs starters have struggled this year, but Kyle is bang on with his preseason projections. The biggest play of the game was Rizzo’s RBI double in the …
Cubs 8, White Sox 3
OSS: I spent half an hour trying to find a picture of Stan Hack that included his uniform number. Three+ up: Javy broke the ice early with a two run homer in the first inning. He also drove in some late runs as the Cubs piled on in the ninth. Most surprisingly, he drew another walk, this time as Giolito …
Cubs 9, Dbacks 1
OSS: Cubs bats jump on the Dbacks bullpen day early and turn this into a yawner. Three up: Javy Baez got the part started with a two run homer in the first inning, his 33rd on the year. He’s how only two dongs below Carpenter for the NL lead, and remains at the top of the NL RBI leaderboard. The …
Cubs 5, Dbacks 1
OSS: Cubs bats wake up late to back a vintage Cyle performance. Three up: Vintage Cyle just missed out on the complete game in this one. Going into the ninth he had allowed just one hit and one walk with eight strikeouts. He gave up a solo shot in the top of the inning and was pulled with one out …
Cubs 3, Reds 2
OSS: Ian Happ blasts a HR to lead an exhausted Cubs team past the Reds. Three up: Things weren’t looking great for the offense, but it all changed on one swing of the bat by Happ. It was his first hit in over a week. Cole Hamels gave up back to back jacks to Joey Votto (not so surprising) and …