The Chicago Cubs took two-of-three from the Los Angeles Dodgers last weekend, but now the Dodgers have returned the favor in grabbing three-of-four and seizing the season series from the North Siders.
The series came with a wide variety of highs, such as Drew Smyly’s flirtation with perfection, and lows, with the Cubs coughing up late runs and finding themselves unable to storm back on multiple occasions.
Here were seven things that stood out to us about the four-game series at Wrigley Field.
Marcus Stroman Finds Good, Bad in His Start
Prior to Sunday’s loss, Marcus Stroman had pitched 24 innings this season for the Cubs, allowing zero home runs and posting a ground ball rate of 63.2%, the best he’s had going since his 2015 stint with the Blue Jays.
On Sunday, he was mostly able to keep that trend going, with seven ground balls to three fly balls. The problem was that he ultimately allowed three home runs in the loss.
His first rough start of the season did come with a nice consolation prize, as he picked up his 1,000th career strikeout in Major League Baseball.
MLB
James Outman and Max Muncy Crush the Cubs
Solidifying his status as a Rookie of the Year candidate, Outman went 7-for-17 in the series with four home runs and nine RBIs, including two on Saturday.
Max Muncy went 4-for-12, and all four of his hits were home runs. He also drove in six RBIs and drew three walks.
He’s already up to 11 home runs this season in 89 plate appearances after hitting just 21 in more than 550 appearances last season.
Michael Fulmer Can’t Quite Find His Footing
Fulmer had a rough series for the Cubs, coming into a tie game on Thursday and giving up four earned runs.
He then came into a two-run game Sunday and allowed two earned runs.
Couple that with the fact that he blew a save and gave up two runs to these same Dodgers on April 15, and it’s becoming apparent that David Ross may need to tweak his usage until he can find his groove again.
Ian Happ Left Watching as Cubs Lose Sunday
Happ had his batting gloves on during a potential rally in the ninth inning of Sunday’s 7-3 loss, and while Luis Torrens, who was 0-for-3 at the time, lined out to left field, Nick Madrigal watched a sinker for a strike with one out and the bases loaded, then grounded another sinker into a game-ending double play.
While there is an argument to be made that Madrigal is a superior contact hitter and that putting the ball in play is a much-higher percentage play than striking out, another argument can be made that scoring a run at the expense of an out would still have been worth less than Happ’s power upside at the plate.
The other key component: Happ’s success against sinkers this season, as Statcast has him at a .737 expected batting average against the pitch. He’s also made hard contact with two-thirds of the sinkers he’s faced this season.
To that end, Dodgers pitcher Brusdar Graterol throws sinkers on nearly 40% of his pitches.
Hayden Wesneski’s Effectiveness Remains Elusive
Even after a strong outing against Oakland, Hayden Wesneski once again struggled against the Dodgers on Saturday. His fastball is getting crushed this year to the tune of a .481 batting average against, according to Statcast. Teams are slugging .815 against the pitch, and his whiff rate on the pitch has gone down from 24.2% to 15.5%.
His cutter last year had a put away percentage of 30.8%, and this year it’s at 6.7%. His XBA for the pitch is .420, while last year it was just .266.
His saving grace has been his sweeper, with a batting average against of .143, and as a result he’s throwing it even more than he did last year. He has eight strikeouts on that pitch this season.
Cubs’ Offense Goes Dormant in Cold Weather
Saturday and Sunday saw frigid temperatures at Wrigley Field, and the Cubs’ offense went relatively silent in losing both games.
In fact, when the temperature is below 45 degrees at first pitch this season, the Cubs are 2-3, with 14 runs scored, or 2.8 per game, for math lovers.
When the temperature is above 45 degrees, the Cubs have scored 107 runs in 16 games, to the tune of 6.7 runs per contest.
Drew Smyly’s Flirtation With Perfection
Drew Smyly had one of the best pitching performances in recent memory for the Cubs, taking a perfect game into the eighth inning of Friday’s contest, and only a collision with Yan Gomes may have prevented history at the Friendly Confines.
Even without that achievement, Smyly has looked strong ever since his rough first start of the campaign, pitching 18.1 innings and striking out 20 batters while walking just three. He’s scattered seven hits in those outings, and has given up just two earned runs.