To fully take advantage of Pete Crow-Armstrong’s torrid stretch and gain ground in the National League playoff race, the Cubs will need the rest of their roster to come through.
On Saturday, the patchwork bullpen blew up and cost the Cubs.
Staked to a five-run lead, Cubs relievers gave up eight runs over the seventh and eighth innings in an 8-6 loss to the Blue Jays. Jacob Webb allowed Kazuma Okamoto’s three-run homer in the eighth, capping the relievers’ implosion that began with rough outings from Trent Thornton and Caleb Thielbar.
“I didn’t [expletive] execute today, period. Plain and simple,” Webb said. “Coming in to stop the game right there, it’s not anything else other than that, literally.”
Saturday was on track to be the Cubs’ third straight win and fourth in five games, and it should’ve been straightforward.
Matt Shaw’s second-inning home run off Patrick Corbin gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead. Crow-Armstrong hit a two-run home run, singled and walked to extend his on-base streak to 23 games. Over that period, Crow-Armstrong has a .468 on-base percentage and has jumped into the MVP conversation.
Yet that wasn’t enough because of the bullpen, which didn’t build off starter Colin Rea’s 5 1/3 scoreless innings.
Unlike the rest of the roster that’s full of big names and salaries, team president Jed Hoyer hasn’t committed top-line resources to the relievers. That group has also seen Rea and Ben Brown switched to the rotation to fill holes there, further depleting the ranks.
For much of the year, the bullpen has been serviceable. It has a 3.82 ERA, which was 12th in baseball. That didn’t continue Saturday.
“We didn’t have a good day in the bullpen,” manager Craig Counsell said. “Colin pitched great; definitely put us in position to win. When you have three guys that have bad days… we gave up a lot of runs because of it. We just didn’t get it done in the bullpen.”
To get by, the Cubs are looking to guys like Webb.
A journeyman, Webb signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract in December. Effective for most of the season – including an 11-game scoreless streak – Webb has given up runs in three straight outings and four of his last five.
“The last few outings, I’ve made mistake after mistake, truly,” Webb said. “And it’s pretty [expletive] frustrating. I’m not going to lie. Back to the drawing board, figure some stuff out.”
The Cubs must do the same with their pitching staff.
They’ve gotten a combined seven starts from Cade Horton, Matthew Boyd and Justin Steele. Recovering from a left meniscus injury, Boyd was scheduled to make a rehab start Saturday for Single-A South Bend, Horton is gone until 2027 and Steele’s return this year is a question mark, making the Cubs a candidate to add starters before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
Clearly, the bullpen could also use help, and at least the Cubs got some good news on closer Daniel Palencia.
Counsell said Palencia’s MRI on his right elbow showed just a mild flexor strain and that the reliever will be shut down through the upcoming road trip in New York and Milwaukee. Hopefully, Palencia will be able to start throwing again when the Cubs come home June 29 against the Padres.
But with or without Palencia, the Cubs bullpen needs to get outs. And for Webb, that means improving his location and tweaking pitch selection.
“Every outing I have I’m trying to go out there and do my best. Not always does it work that way,” Webb said. “We’d like Danny back as soon as possible but right now we have to play without him, until we can get him back.”