Chicago Cubs: Counsell deflects blame amid bullpen apocalypse

The Chicago Cubs bullpen did it again. They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, inheriting a lead late in the game only to blow it in a most spectacularly awful way.

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On Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, the Cubs had a 3-0 lead heading into the sixth. A two-run home run off starter Kevin Gausman brought manager Craig Counsell out with the hook and the bullpen in for the great big fail.

Daniel Palencia, who came in to close out the sixth, was decent enough. But then Jacob Webb was brought in.

Webb gets blasted, again

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The veteran right-hander gave up the lead in the seventh which, ultimately, gave up the game. In two-thirds of an inning, Webb allowed two earned runs—via a two-run blast by Ozzie Albies—in yet another poor showing down this closing stretch of the season. Over his last 8 appearances, the 33-year-old has given up 11 earned runs and has allowed 4 home runs in 6.2 innings. During this stretch, where he’s posted an ugly 14.85 ERA, he also set a dubious MLB record for being the only pitcher to allow a game-tying or go-ahead homer with two outs in the ninth in three straight save opportunities since saves became official in 1969.

The recently activated Edward Cabrera, converted to a reliever after an injury and inconsistency-wracked debut season with the Cubs, would salt the earth behind Webb. He gave up a two-run home run in the ninth—the Braves’ third of the day—making sure the game was far out of reach against a tough Braves bullpen.

After the game, Counsell would seemingly make a concerted effort not to single out the bullpen for scorn.

“We got to put together 27 outs,” Counsell told reporters. “We got to score runs. I’m going to tell you that again: We got to score more runs. But, yeah, we got to get guys pitching well. And we got to have guys that we can count on. Multiple guys that we can count on. We’re not going to survive if we don’t have multiple guys we can count on.”

“We need everybody,” Counsell continued. “We need to talk about a lot of names every night to help us win games. It’s not just the bullpen. Everybody’s got responsibility.”

Nobody is coming to the rescue

And, yeah, all of that is true—to an extent.

The Cubs have the best offense in baseball and they’re also fielding the best defense in baseball. Their starting pitching hasn’t been great, but more often than not it’s been solid enough to put the team in a good spot to win a game. On Tuesday, for example, Gausman allowed two earned runs through 5.2 innings, which should’ve been good enough to get Chicago a win.

The scary part when it comes to the team’s postseason chances is that it looks like there won’t be a cavalry riding in to save the bullpen. Shelby Miller was just shut down for the season, Justin Steele may be right behind Miller. Meanwhile, Cabrera bombed out in his first stab at bullpen duty.

So, Chicago will ride or die with what they have right now in the pen. That doesn’t exactly instill confidence.

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