Plenty of promise to be found as Chicago Cubs winning streak ends

Despite seeing their seven-game winning streak draw to a close, the Chicago Cubs had a lot of positives to build on in Monday night’s loss to Miami.

Just three outs from securing an eighth-straight victory, the Chicago Cubs saw things go sideways on Monday night. Facing a lowly Miami Marlins club, closer Pedro Strop lost the ability to find the strike zone and before the inning drew to a close, the Fish struck three times to take their first lead of the night.

Veteran and Chicago native Curtis Granderson worked a leadoff walk to get things started. Strop then issued a free pass to Jon Berti, who hit his first career big league homer earlier in the game. A Neil Walker single to right field to load the bases. Then, it was back to his wild ways for the Chicago right-hander, walking Rosell Herrera to tie the game at 4-4.

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Joe Maddon went to left-hander Kyle Ryan after that and he induced a ground ball to David Bote at second base. Bote’s only play was to first as the Marlins took the lead at 5-4. The next play, though, is one that really stands out looking back at the loss.

Ryan picked a comebacker off the bat of Martin Prado. He initially looked at Walker, who was more than halfway down the third-base line, but instead of running at him to force him either back to third or toward Willson Contreras at the dish, he turned and fired to first. Walker easily scored, despite Anthony Rizzo receiving the throw from Ryan and firing a strike across the diamond to third base to cut down Herrera, ending the inning.

That’s the type of play that, simply put, cannot happen. Coming into such a situation, it’s on a reliever to know what he’s stepping into and based on his actions, Ryan did not. That decision loomed particularly large given what transpired in the bottom of the inning.

"“That’s a tough situation to come in in the ninth there,” Rizzo told MLB.com after the game. “We all have his (Ryan’s) back. He’s been really good for us since he’s been here. … I’m sure Joe will put him right back in there tomorrow. We have all the confidence in the world in him.”"

Trailing 6-4, Chicago got one run back when Kris Bryant launched a towering drive onto Waveland Avenue – marking the first time he’s homered in back-to-back games since May 6-7, 2018. The 2016 National League MVP has been hot lately, helping lead one of the league’s most potent offenses.

His corner infield counterpart, Rizzo, also homered – the 200th long ball of his career. He now ranks ninth on the Chicago Cubs all-time home run list, but still has a ways to go before he gets anywhere near Sammy Sosa‘s team-leading 545 homers.

Other key takeaways from the loss

The normally reliable Strop, as noted, was anything but on Monday. His struggles in the series opener will undoubtedly reignite the cries for Chicago to pony up whatever it takes to bring in Craig Kimbrel, but that’s not going to happen.

Without Kimbrel and Brandon Morrow, who will likely miss the rest of the first half, the ninth-inning job belongs to Strop, so we’ll all have to chalk it up to a bad night and move forward. Up to that point, he’d been fairly reliable – especially in terms of limiting free passes. Monday marks his second blown save of the season.

Carl Edwards Jr. returned from Triple-A Iowa, tossing a clean inning in the seventh. He did not strike out nor walk a batter, but the lanky right-hander looked sharp and refocused after spending the last month in Des Moines hoping to recapture what made him such a key part of the team’s success in recent years.

Offensively, the two long balls from Bryant and Rizzo highlighted the team’s effort, but they left too many men on base. The Cubs drew 10 walks – but went just 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left nine on in the game. Chicago and Miami will go at it again on Tuesday, with veteran left-hander Jon Lester looking to get the team back on track.