Another mid-season blow to their fleeting NL Central hopes.
After holding the Cincinnati Reds scoreless altogether on Saturday, the Chicago Cubs rode a 4-run 3rd inning in Sunday’s series finale to a 7-3 victory that gave them the series victory.
The win pushed the Baby Bears to a stellar 37-22 overall record and dropped Cincinnati to a meager 29-31, the Reds now mired 8.5 games back of their division rivals while stuck in 4th place in the division. I’d say that was a brutal development to their division dreams, but I think their woeful stumbles in series after series leading up to this particular one did their own bit of significant damage to that already.
The Reds, as they have been all season, are simply a one step forward, one step back team so far this year. This series, this week as a whole was nothing but a reminder of that, as the ability to generate any sort of tangible momentum simply has not existed.
Nick Martinez got the start on the day and was beat around as much as he’s been in quite some time. He was jobbed for 7 hits and 5 ER in just 4.2 IP, ending his streak of Quality Starts at 6 that dated back to an April 28th start against the St. Louis Cardinals. His season ERA rose to 3.89 after his effort.
That’s not to say some of their guys aren’t beginning to put together the kind of work that should, in theory, lead a club in a more forward direction. TJ Friedl, for instance, put together a simply brilliant run prior to Sunday’s 0 for 4 performance, stringing together multi-hit games in 7 straight contests (and 9 of 10 overall), running his OPS up to .815 with a .388 OBP that every single team in baseball would covet. Tyler Stephenson, meanwhile, blasted a trio of dingers on the week (with a pair of 3-hit games mixed in), in doing so earning himself this week’s Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Week honors.
The lone bright spot for the Reds on Sunday was one Elly De La Cruz, who went 2 for 3 with his 12th dinger of the season (and 42nd ribbie, if you’re in to that sort of thing). The blast carried 423 feet according to MLB’s Statcast, while being launched at a ridiculous 117.4 mph off the bat.
Elly had his stellar statistical day while battling his own personal heartache, as his sister passed away yesterday after a long illness. Our thoughts are with Elly as he goes through this awful process.