Faithful, Too: “Games 28 & 29 L’s”
Added 2025-04-28 21:17:44 +0000 UTCBen Brown didn’t have it on Saturday. He hasn’t had “it” for most of the season. As the fifth starter on this team (well, counting Steele’s semi-replacement Rea. “Rea-placement?”) he just needs to gobble up innings on the mound, and he just hasn’t done so. Over his last two games, Brown’s only pitched 7 2/3 innings but thrown 184 pitches! He was able to get out of trouble against the DBacks in his last start, but his luck ran out against the Phils and found himself knocked out in the 4th after giving up six runs. The Cubs chipped away here and there, but wound up losing in convincing fashion 10-4.
Sunday’s game was on ESPN, which is good for national audiences, but bad for the cord-cutters (like me). For the Cubs it was sadly similar to their 3-2, extra-inning loss to the DBacks last week. Yesterday, they went 10 innings and lost 3-1. These losses mean that the Phillies won the series in Wrigley, the first time the Cubs have lost a home series this season. Disappointing? Yes. But, but, Jameson Taillon pitched another solid game. If you take away his awful debut against (you guessed it) the Diamondbacks, he’s got a 2.76 ERA in his other five starts this season. He only gave up one run in 7 on Sunday, but unfortunately for him the bats went silent.
Next up? Pittsburgh, to face the lowly Pirates: easily the worst team the Cubs have played this season. As fortune has it, the Cubbies still have to face off against young pitcher Paul Skenes, who continues to impress following his Rookie of the Year season last year. Would love a nice sweep here, two wins is acceptable, but they can’t lose a series against these guys. Need to start strong against their first divisional opponent of the short season.
