Game Recap: Soroka exits early with injury as Cubs fall to Reds |
Dustin Riese
· · 6 hours ago
CHICAGO - It was an overall terrible night for the Chicago Cubs (65-47) in more ways than one. Not only did the Milwaukee Brewers win yet again, but the Cubs went out and lost to the Cincinnati Reds (59-54) 3-2 at Wrigley Field on Monday and have now fallen three games out of first.
To make matters worse, the Cubs' lone starter they acquired at the deadline, Michael Soroka, lasted just two innings before leaving the game with shoulder discomfort. He will now be heading to the IL as things continue to get worse for the Cubs, as it's getting to the point where this team needs to focus on a wild card more than the division. Before his injury, Soroka was looking very good as he allowed one run on one hit with three strikeouts over those two innings. That run came in the second inning, a two-out homer from Tyler Stephenson, who continues to crush Cubs pitching. Soroka managed to finish the second inning before calling for the trainer, and the rest is history. “You come to this org and you hope to hit the ground running,” Soroka said after the game. “Two innings later, we’re having to pull the plug. Obviously, it’s concerning, but there is hope that it’s something that can be taken care of fairly quickly. Hopefully we’ll be back out there in some respect at some point soon.” “Look, you feel bad for Michael first,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said, “and just hope that there’s just some discomfort there and a couple weeks can take care of it. That’s where we’re at. We’re going to have to wait to get more information before we know what we’re dealing with.” As bad a situation as this is looking to be for the Cubs, things were just as bad for the Reds early on, as Nick Lodolo didn't even make it through two innings before he left with an injury in the second and was replaced by Nick Martinez. Knowing that so many innings needed to be covered, this was going to come down to which flex guy could do more, as Ben Brown and Martinez were called on to shoulder the load. For the most part, both men did all that was asked of them as the Cubs got to Martinez in the bottom of the third. What started with a leadoff single by Ian Happ was followed by a Dansby Swanson two-run shot, and just like that, this was a 2-1 Cubs lead. Swanson played a massive role in this game for a different reason later on, and it goes to show how narrow the margin for error this team has. Take that homer out of the mix, and the Cubs offense did next to nothing as they managed to pick up just one hit the rest of the way as the Cubs offense continues to struggle. That put even more pressure on Brown to pick up the slack, and to his credit, he held his own, going four innings and striking out five while allowing just one run. That makes two consecutive strong outings for Brown since returning from AAA, and maybe, just maybe, he is starting to figure things out on the mound. The lone run charged to Brown came in his final inning of work as the Cubs continued to lead the Reds 2-1 in the sixth. What started with a Matt McClain one-out single turned into a 2-2 game as Elly De La Cruz ripped an RBI double to tie things up before taking third on an error by Happ. Fortunately for the Cubs, Brown was able to strand De La Cruz at third, but the damage was already done as things were back to even 2-2. Despite the Cubs' offensive struggles, Chicago continued to put guys on base as a pair of two-out walks to Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki kept the pressure on Scott Barlow, only to come away empty. Then came the seventh, where Ryan Brasier started out strong by retiring the first two hitters he faced before allowing a two-out double to Jake Fraley as the Reds were threatening to take the lead. Ke'Bryan Hayes delivered an infield single shortly after, which forced Craig Counsell to go back to his pen as he called on Caleb Thielbar to put out the fire. Thrust into a tough spot, Thielbar wasn't able to keep the Reds at bay as TJ Friedl cashed in with the go-ahead RBI single that put the Reds on top for good, 3-2. The bottom of the seventh is when things changed and not in a good way for the Cubs as Willi Castro led off the bottom of the inning with a single before advancing to third on a pair of groundouts. Looking to bring home the tying run, Swanson appeared to do that on an infield single, only to have replay show that he missed the base, resulting in an inning-ending groundout that kept the Reds in front 3-2. That was as close as the Cubs would get to tying things up, as a leadoff hit by pitch to Pete Crow-Armstrong to begin the eighth was followed by a double play as the Cubs went down quietly the rest of the way in another ugly loss. With the loss, the Cubs are now facing their largest division deficit of the season as a Central Division title is starting to get further and further out of reach.
