PHOENIX – Even the Diamondbacks putting in a reliever to pinch hit didn’t stop the onslaught in the eighth inning, burying the Cubs in a 10-6 loss Sunday.
And as Diamondbacks right-hander Ryne Nelson chopped an RBI single up the middle to extend Arizona’s lead to two runs, the inning raised concerns that had been brewing in the early days of the season.
“This is our group, and we’ve certainly got to be a little better than that, and expect it, and we will,” manager Craig Counsell said of the bullpen. “Today wasn’t a good day.”
All 10 of the Diamondbacks’ runs came against relievers, after starter Matt Boyd threw five scoreless innings. Nate Pearson was charged with two runs, Caleb Thielbar with two and Eli Morgan with six.
Even before Sunday, however, the bullpen had experienced its wobbles.
The Cubs have been happy with veteran closer Ryan Pressly’s progress cleaning up mechanical issues from last season, but it’s still a work in progress. He navigated those factors to claim his first save as a Cub on Saturday despite giving up a two-run home run to Eugenio Suárez.
Right-hander Brad Keller gave up two runs in his lone appearance. Pearson, in three appearances, has yet to have a scoreless outing.
Right-hander Julian Merryweather – who has experience in high leverage but is coming off a shaky, injury-ridden 2024 season – wasn’t available to pitch Sunday, Counsell said. The Cubs had Merryweather warm up twice the first game of the series and twice Friday. He hadn’t recovered, but he was not injured, Counsell confirmed.
“We’ve got a great group of guys down there,” Boyd said of the bullpen after his season debut. “We’ve got a great pitching staff, and we know what we can do.”
Regardless, the bullpen – which underwent the most reconstruction of the Cubs’ position groups this winter – presented itself as the biggest area of concern through six games. That eight-run eighth inning Sunday drove home the point.
It started with back-to-back walks from Thielbar, who had recorded the last two outs of the previous inning without incident. Morgan, who’d thrown three shutout innings in his previous two appearances,replaced him and ran into trouble almost immediately.
After inducing a flyout, he surrendered four straight hits: a two-run double to Geraldo Perdomo, a two-run home run to Lourdes Gurriel Jr., a single to Gabriel Moreno, and a go-ahead RBI double to Josh Naylor.
“I feel like the pitches felt good out of my hands,” Morgan said. “So, it’s just more command, seeing where they end up, versus the stuff.”
With a base open, the Cubs had Morgan intentionally walk Suárez to get to the pitcher’s spot in the order. The Diamondbacks had already forfeited the DH earlier in the game. And having exhausted their bench, they called on Nelson, who’d had 176 at-bats at the University of Oregon but no professional plate appearances.
He showed bunt early. And Naylor and Suárez executed a double steal to reach second and third. Then in a 2-1 count, with the infield in, Nelson found a hole.
Naylor made it home, but center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong nabbed Suárez at the plate. Morgan allowed one more RBI single, to Alek Thomas, before Colin Rea relieved him. And after giving up an RBI double to Corbin Carroll, he mercifully induced an inning-ending groundout.