Chicago Cubs: Injured Javier Baez delivers walk-off single off the bench

Chicago Cubs: What stood out in the win?

The Cubs came away with the win, but it wasn’t a pretty showing for the first-place club. The bats went just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position – and that lone tally came via the Baez walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth.

More from Cubbies Crib

• Cubs starting pitching has been thriving on the North Side
• Make no mistake: the Cubs are very much about power hitters
• Cubs are giving pitcher Javier Assad a deserved shot
• Cubs: It’s time to start thinking about potential September call-ups
• Cubs: P.J. Higgins deserves to be in the lineup on a daily basis

The club scattered 10 hits – and struck out only two times, drawing seven walks, but they’ll need to come through with runners on with more regularity if they want to keep finding success.

As a team, the Cubs rank 11th in the National League with a .251 average with runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, three NL Central foes – the Cardinals, Reds and Brewers – all rank in the top four in the Senior Circuit.

Jose Quintana turned in another dominant start for Chicago (28-18), tossing six innings of scoreless baseball, allowing just a pair of hits on the night. That marks the fourth time this season the southpaw did not allow an earned run – and he’s allowed three earned or fewer in all but one of his outings this year, culminating in a sterling 3.30 earned run average.

This is what the Cubs hoped for when they acquired Quintana in the summer of 2017 – a dependable lefty presence capable of shutting down the most potent lineups in the league. But his effort was overshadowed by another shoddy showing by the bullpen.