I’m not sure I even have words to describe the elation at Wrigley Field after the Cubs’ totally improbable 3-2, 11-inning win over the Blue Jays.
But here, let me try.
This game was lost, over, done, the Cubs totally dominated by Blue Jays pitching. And then Alex Bregman banged one off the ad sign in left field just over the basket for a game-tying homer and Pete Crow-Armstrong made the winning run happen by stealing third and drawing a bad throw in the 11th inning.
Wow. Just wow. Yes, I have more words, but those are pretty good, let me say it again: Wow!
This game did not start well. David Peterson struggled in the first inning, issuing a one-out walk and giving up a single. Then George Springer hit into a force play, pushing Kazuma Okamoto to third.
Now, you have to remember that Springer is nearly 37 years old. It’s the first inning. He’s not a base-stealing threat, yet Peterson kept throwing over. Once, twice, three times — well, you can’t do that if you don’t get the runner, and he didn’t, thus it’s what’s termed a “disengagement violation,” officially scored a balk, and a run scored. If you didn’t see it, watch [VIDEO].
I don’t know how often that happens across MLB but I don’t think I can recall a Cubs pitcher doing it, and it cost Peterson a run. About the balk, from BCB’s JohnW53:
The run-scoring first-inning balk by David Peterson was the Cubs’ second balk of the season. Colin Rea had one July 1 at Wrigley in the 23-3 demolition of the Padres. The Guardians, Orioles and Rangers also had one. The White Sox had the most, eight. The Athletics and Diamondbacks had seven, and three teams had six, including the Blue Jays.
Peterson had a lot of traffic on the bases through his five innings, but got helped by inducing a couple of double plays. Overall the line doesn’t look too bad — five innings, one run, three strikeouts — but it was a slog. Of his 15 outs, he did get the ground balls he’s known for, nine of them were on the ground.
Meanwhile, the Cubs could not do anything with Dylan Cease, and he’s done this before — two years ago he threw seven one-hit innings against the Cubs while with the Padres, striking out 12. That was pretty much what he did in this one, allowing just a walk to Miguel Amaya in the third, a fourth-inning single to Alex Bregman and a sixth-inning single by Amaya. Only Amaya, on the sixth-inning single, got past second base. He reached third with two out but Michael Busch struck out to end the inning.
The game went 1-0 into the seventh, thanks to a scoreless sixth by Ryan Rolison, and then Aaron Civale gave the Jays a second run in the top of that inning. Toronto executed a successful sacrifice bunt in that rally, something we don’t see around Wrigley much, as the Cubs are dead last in MLB in sac bunts this year with just five.
Civale then threw a scoreless eighth and ninth. The Cubs went down 1-2-3 in the eighth, so the last of the ninth was their last chance.
PCA led off with a single and one out later, went to second on a ground out by Busch.
Two out. Runner in scoring position. Tying run at the plate in the person of Bregman. Down to his final strike, Bregman came through [VIDEO].
You can hear the ball loudly bang off the metal advertising sign, land in the basket and then fall to the field. As was said on that video clip, what a moment for Bregman, who’s struggled much of this year. That was his 12th home run and as dramatic as they come. And it’s very rare — details from John:
Alex Bregman’s home run was just the Cubs’ 11th since 1910 that tied the score with the Cubs behind by two runs and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The previous one was nearly 13 years ago, on Aug. 22, 2013, by Donnie Murphy off Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals.
The others were by Vic Saier in 1913, Woody English in 1930, Zeke Bonura in 1940, Ernie Banks in 1954, Keith Moreland in 1986, Andre Dawson in 1987, Aramis Ramirez in 2005, Bryan LaHair in 2011 and Darwin Barney in 2012.
They have had six such homers on the road.
Beyond all that, Jays closer Louis Varland has been one of the best closers in MLB all year. That was just the second home run he’s allowed this year of 230 batters faced — and his first blown save.
So the game went to extras. Caleb Thielbar, who had a rough go of things Wednesday, entered to throw the 10th and he got out of it 1-2-3 — in part thanks to this fantastic catch by Bregman [VIDEO].
In the bottom of the 10th, Tyrone Taylor was sent in to run for Ian Happ as the placed runner. Nico Hoerner popped to short right, then Michael Conforto was intentionally walked. A wild pitch moved the runners up, but Dansby Swanson struck out.
It looked like the Cubs had won the game on a soft bloop to center by Carson Kelly, but Jays second baseman Ernie Clement robbed Kelly of a walk-off hit [VIDEO].
Props to Clement, that was an absolutely outstanding play.
So, on to the 11th, with Trent Thornton pitching. He retired the first two Jays, with placed runner Clement taking third on the second out, a ground out. Andres Gimenez was intentionally passed, and he stole second uncontested.
Thornton then got a ground ball to short to end the inning.
Kelly was the placed runner in the bottom of the 11th. The Cubs had to do that because Amaya had been removed and no one else could catch. This proved to be important, for a moment, anyway.
PCA singled and Kelly tried to score, but was out on a perfect throw from Myles Straw to Brandon Valenzuela [VIDEO].
PCA took second on that throw, and that proved to be very important. Suzuki was intentionally passed as the Jays tried to set up a double play situation. Then PCA took off for third on Brendon Little’s first pitch to Busch and… well, you know what happened, now watch [VIDEO].
This is the sort of thing that makes PCA such a strong MVP candidate. Beyond the homers, beyond the defense, beyond just the steals, he can create havoc on the basepaths and today, it gave the Cubs a crazy walk-off win. That completed the homestand with five wins in seven games and should set them up well for the upcoming road trip to Kansas City and Washington.
About winning a game in this fashion, from John:
The last time the Cubs earned a walk-off win on an error was on a nearly similar play, almost 30 years ago, on Sept. 27, 1996, vs. the Pirates. With the score 9-9 and two out in the ninth, Jose Hernandez walked on a 3-2 pitch and advanced to second on an infield hit by Luis Gonzalez. When pitcher Joe Boever threw a wild pitch on an 0-1 count to Mark Grace, Hernandez headed for third. Catcher Jason Kendall threw the ball past the base and Hernandez raced home.
If you were at Wrigley Thursday afternoon, you know the excitement felt by everyone at the ol’ ballyard. This was one of the best wins, if not the best win, of the entire season to date. The Cubs kept pace with the Brewers, who also won Thursday, and remain 5.5 games out of first place in the NL Central.
One more historic fact about this game from John:
With today’s win, the Cubs’ are 600 games above .500 in their 22,533 regular-season games since 1876, first year of the National League: 11,486 wins and 10,886 losses. They have tied 161 games.
This is the first time they have been +600 in more than 27 years, since June 16, 1999, when they were 9,324-8,724-160 following an 11-4 loss at Milwaukee.
Beginning the next day, they lost four straight games at San Francisco, to drop to .500 for the season and they never were above .500 the rest of the year.
The Cubs’ all-time peak was 1,179 games above .500 after a 6-3 win at home over the Phillies on June 14, 1947.
The Cubs open a six-game road trip Friday evening in Kansas City. As of now pitchers are not officially listed for either the Cubs or Royals, but it’s been generally known that Kevin Gausman should make his Cubs debut in this game. Hopefully I’ll have more info on Friday’s starters by the time Heroes and Goats posts tomorrow morning. Game time Friday is 7:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
Now go enjoy this win and watch that winning play as much as you want!
