Realistically, the bullpen was due to blow a lead like this at some point in the season. As good as they’ve been in close games, no bullpen is perfect. It’d be easy to blame Ronny Cedeno for the error that kept the Cubs’ rally in the seventh inning alive against Evan Meek, but it would’ve been much worse if not for great catches by Andrew McCutchen and Ryan Church to record the first two outs of the inning. This was just the game the bullpen’s number came up.
Unfortunately, it squandered a nice start by Ross Ohlendorf. He wasn’t great today, but his fastball showed a little more life than it did in his last start, averaging between 91 and 92 and topping out at 94+, and he threw some nasty breaking pitches to pick up his three strikeouts. Unfortunately, he mixed it in with three walks and a 5/8 GB/FB number, so there’s still a lot of room for improvement for him, though holding the Cubs to just four hits in six innings was obviously a positive sign. As nice as this sweep would’ve been, winning a series on the road is a nice change of pace. These next two games at Philadelphia will be a real test.
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