The Cubs got a strong outing from Adbert Alzolay and eight hits and three runs from the lineup, but bad pitches from two Cubs relievers and a questionable strike call in the ninth inning made for a 4-3 loss Saturday.
Alzolay left the game in the fifth inning with two outs and runners on the corners after walking Simeon High School grad Corey Ray, who was making his major-league debut. From there, reliever Rex Brothers loaded the bases and then walked Omar Narvaez and hit Tyrone Taylor with a pitch to tie the game.
In the seventh inning, Andrew Chafin gave up a two-run homer to pinch hitter Manny Pina that gave the Brewers the lead.
“I thought Adbert had a great game,” Ross said. “We’ve got to get out of that situation for him. I thought he threw really well.”
The first two batters Cubs starter Adbert Alzolay faced Saturday got on base, but from there he got to work sitting the Brewers down one at a time.
Alzolay retired 12 straight — seven via strikeout — stretching from the first inning to the fifth. Even Travis Shaw’s bats fell victim; Alzolay splintered two of them.
“I felt really really good today,” Alzolay said. “I felt that my fastball was working today with my slider. I felt that today I was able to command my pitches better.”
Despite the loss, Alzolay’s day on the mound was a promising step in his development as a starter. He looked as sharp as he has in any of his appearances in the majors, and he’s gone into at least the fifth inning in all three starts this season. On Saturday, his 83 pitches were the second-most he has thrown in a start in his career.
Alzolay liked how his fastball felt late in the game Saturday, he said, and that’s something that he thinks will be a factor in being able to go into the sixth or seventh inning in his starts.
“Just keep building off of that and I think I’m ready to go deeper into games,” Alzolay said.
Ross said that the difference for Alzolay this year has been the development of his breaking pitch to go with his fastball and changeup.
“The slider has definitely been the pitch that has changed things for him,” Ross said.
Alzolay feels like he can better manipulate the pitch, he said, going up and down and back door when needed, and as a result, he can get left-handed batters out more easily with it.
He’s learning to adjust his gameplan on the mound too. Alzolay said that he noticed that he Brewers were sitting on his slider the last time he faced them, so he went to his four-seam fastball more on Saturday to keep them off balance.
In the ninth, the Cubs mounted a near comeback against Brewers closer Josh Hader that may have been foiled by a questionable strike call. Jason Heyward’s eighth-inning homerun brought them within a run, and then Nico Hoerner lead off the ninth inning with a walk. With pinch-hitter Jake Marisnick at the plateand Hoerner, home plate umpire Cory Blaser called the first pitch from Hader a strike — a call the shifted the tone of the inning.
“That looked extremely high,” Ross said. “We’ve the leadoff guy on, we’ve got a guy who hits lefties pretty good for us who’s been hot. An 0-0 call with the closer out there, a guy you want to get down in the zone. I’ve watched Cory [Blaser] all day, I have a ton of respect for him. That was a bad call, plain and simple.”
Blaser’s strike zone had been consistent all afternoon, Ross said, so calling a high strike against Marisnick in such a pivotal moment in the game potentially killed off a ninth-inning rally.
“In that moment, that just can’t happen, in my opinion,” Ross said.
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