The Cubs head into Sunday’s finale trying to stop a slide that’s gotten messy in a hurry. Chicago has dropped three straight, including back-to-back walk-off losses to the Mariners, and the latest one came Saturday night in a 5-4 defeat after Seattle erased a 4-2 deficit in the ninth.
It looked like the Cubs had done enough against Mariners top prospect Kade Anderson. Chicago pushed across three runs against the rookie and built a 4-2 lead heading into the final inning.
Then Randy Arozarena flipped the game. He opened the night with a homer, then finished it with a two-run walk-off shot off Jacob Webb.
That loss left the Cubs at 4-6 over their last 10 games. Meanwhile, the Brewers have won three straight and stretched their division lead to 7.0 games. Chicago also lost ground in the race for the top Wild Card spot, with the Phillies winning eight in a row and pulling within 2.0 games.
Seattle, for its part, had been hanging on by a thread before this series, but the Mariners have suddenly banked two big wins over the Cubs. Chicago now turns to the finale needing to settle things down before a crucial series with the Diamondbacks later this week.
Sunday’s matchup sends the Cubs to T-Mobile Park for a 3:10 PM CT first pitch. The game will be on Marquee Sports Network, with radio coverage on 104.3 The Score.
Ian Happ is back in the lineup against a right-hander, batting fifth and starting in left field. Happ homered in the series opener, giving Chicago a lift early in this set.
Craig Counsell is also putting Michael Conforto in at DH, even though Conforto has been hitless in his last five games and has only four hits in 12 games this August. Pedro Ramirez, meanwhile, has struggled since moving into the everyday lineup, batting .192 over his last seven games.
The Cubs did get a jolt yesterday from Alex Bregman and Busch, who went back-to-back on the first pitches they saw and sent them over the wall. Chicago would love more of that kind of instant damage in this one.
The challenge, of course, is Arozarena. Saturday was his show - a home run robbery, two homers of his own, and the walk-off winner.
The source of the problem was obvious. If the Cubs can keep him quiet, they have a strong shot to salvage the finale.
On the mound, Shota Imanaga brings a 2.45 ERA over his last seven starts. He did allow three home runs in a recent outing against the Nationals, but he has given up just eight home runs total during this seven-start stretch. In his last start, he threw 6.0 innings with 10 strikeouts against the White Sox and did not factor in the decision, with Randall Grichuk’s three-run homer undoing an otherwise strong outing.
That White Sox lineup ranks third in home runs, and Imanaga handled it well enough to keep Chicago in the game. The Cubs will be hoping for a similar answer against a Mariners offense that has already shown plenty of pop in this series.
Bryce Miller gets the ball for Seattle. The 27-year-old has a 3.71 ERA overall, but his recent form has been rough: he is 0-5 with a 6.57 ERA over his last seven starts. In that span, Miller has allowed at least four runs in five of the seven outings and has given up a home run in every one of those starts.
Alex Bregman is the only hitter with more than a game’s worth of plate appearances against Miller, and the results haven’t been strong. He has a .528 OPS in 20 plate appearances. Still, Miller’s recent trouble keeping the ball in the park gives the Cubs a chance to make some noise early.
In Other News...
Mariners Wild Card Push Just Got A Scary Brendan Donovan Twist
A pregame scare added another layer of uncertainty to Seattles Wild Card chase on Saturday, when Brendan Donovan was hit in the head with a baseball in the batting cages before the Mariners played. Donovan is being evaluated, and the timing matters for a club that can least afford another health question as it tries to stay in the race.
Donovan has already spent much of the season on the injured list because of a left groin strain, though he has been effective when available. For the Mariners, the focus now is less on lineup fit than on his condition, with the organization monitoring every update as the postseason picture tightens. [Read more 🡒]
Kade Andersons Debut Showed Mariners Fans Both Promise And A Warning
Kade Andersons first night in a Mariners uniform offered the kind of mixed snapshot that often comes with a young pitchers debut. Seattles top prospect had already built plenty of momentum in the Minors, and he carried that pedigree onto the big-league stage by working into the sixth inning, showing the poise and stuff that made the organization eager to bring him up.
The warning came just as the outing started to turn. Anderson allowed back-to-back home runs to bring his night to a close, finishing with three earned runs allowed on five hits, along with two walks and five strikeouts. For the Mariners, it was a reminder that the ceiling is real, but so is the learning curve, and the next step will be seeing how quickly Anderson responds after a debut that showed both. [Read more 🡒]
Mariners Now Face A Kade Anderson Question They Didnt Expect
Kade Andersons first big league start gave the Mariners exactly the kind of glimpse they had been waiting for, even if it was not a spotless one. The pitching prospect held things together for 4 scoreless innings before the game tightened on him in the fifth and sixth, finishing with 5 2/3 innings, three runs allowed on five hits and two walks, with five strikeouts in his MLB debut.
For Seattle, the outing was both encouraging and revealing, because it showed the fast-track version of what Anderson might mean to the rotation while also raising the obvious next question about how the club wants to use him from here. The Mariners still walked away with a 5-4 win on a walk-off homer, but Andersons debut made it clear the team now has a real decision to make about a pitcher it may need sooner than expected. [Read more 🡒]