Sloppy series earns just one win; Royals bullpen shuts down Cubs offense late
Record: 2-4
Final Record: 31-46
A series that began mildly well for the Cubs ended highly disappointingly as the Cubs dropped the final two games of the series against a dismal Kansas City squad.
The Friday night opener was a win, but the Cubs didn't do much well in it. Four baserunners were thrown out on the basepaths, although Mike Quade later said he had no problem with the aggressiveness. Ryan Dempster allowed two through six innings, but an error allowed two more. Luckily, the bullpen didn't allow anything after that.
The stories on Saturday and Sunday were very much the same. Back-to-back home runs from Aramis Ramirez and Geovany Soto were the only runs for the Cubs on Saturday, and Chris Getz drove in the winning run in the 8th inning for a 3-2 Royals win. On Sunday, a valiant comeback effort in the 3rd and 4th innings fell short and the Cubs trailed the entire game. After the comeback fell short at 4-3, the Royals would add two more runs later and go on to win, 6-3.
The problem in this series was too many hittable pitches given up by Cubs pitchers. They kept the ball down, allowing only one home run in the series, but walked at least four in each game, which set up countless RBI singles. The offense was also mostly minimal in the two losses, stymied by an underrated KC bullpen.
With an eight game homestand that began Monday against Colorado, the Cubs were scheduled to play four games in three days against three different opponents. Monday, originally scheduled to be a day off, was scheduled for the Cubs-Rockies rainout back on April 27. Tuesday, originally scheduled to be just one game against the Giants at night, was scheduled to be a day-night doubleheader. This totals to the Cubs playing the Royals Sunday afternoon in Kansas City, the Rockies Monday afternoon at Wrigley Field, and the Giants in the afternoon and at night on Tuesday at Wrigley.
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