BOSTON — The Cubs lost a 5-4 heartbreaker to the Red Sox Sunday night, dropping the series at Fenway Park after winning the first of three to kick off the weekend. Tanner Houck dominated the Cubs’ bats for 6 2/3 innings, striking out nine and walking none as he allowed just one run.
Despite being largely shut down for much of the evening, a big three-run homer by Mike Tauchman tied the game in the eighth and it seemed like the Cubs could pull off a surprising victory. However, with runners on the corners and no outs in the bottom of the ninth, the winning run scored when Tyler O’Neill blooped a ball into shallow left that Dansby Swanson barely missed catching.
Here are three takeaways from a series loss in Boston.
1. Hayden Wesneski looks like a different pitcher
After a dominant spring, Wesneski struggled in 2023. But both his results and how he’s pitching look very different early on this season. After Jordan Wicks was scratched due to a forearm strain, Wesneski made a spot start on Sunday and pitched four strong innings, allowing two runs with just one earned while striking out three and walking one — his first free pass of the season.
What’s changed for the young righty? Wesneski said his confidence this year is a big factor. Inconsistencies last season dinged it, but he’s made strides to try and not allow that this season.
“Confidence comes and goes,” Wesneski said. “It’s really easy to lose it and really hard to get it. For me, the way I gain confidence is through work. If I work hard — I feel like I checked the boxes today — there’s no reason I shouldn’t be confident. You just have to tell yourself that. But it’s easy to lose.”
Wesneski has focused on pounding the zone more this season and he’s done exactly that. Last season, he threw 63 percent strikes, a point below league average. This year, through 126 pitches, he’s at 74.6 percent.
Hayden Wesneski, you’re a bad man! pic.twitter.com/yJ02RSYP9P
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) April 25, 2024
Wesneski isn’t missing bats at the rate some expected when he burst onto the scene late in 2022 (he has just a 15.4 percent strikeout rate), but he’s pounding the zone, barely allowing walks (2.6 percent) and has an impressive 51.6 percent ground-ball rate. With injuries to Wicks and Justin Steele, it looks like Wesneski may need to make a few more starts. But whatever role he ends up taking going forward, it’s clear he’s made some changes that could allow him to positively impact the team this summer.
2. Optimism around injuries to Cody Bellinger, Jordan Wicks
The Cubs dodged bad news on Saturday when Christopher Morel came out mostly unharmed after colliding with Alexander Canario late in a blowout loss. After the game, manager Counsell said Morel was startled more than anything and the Cubs third baseman was back in the lineup Sunday.
Christopher Morel left today’s game following this play. pic.twitter.com/WbtDpOuyyq
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) April 27, 2024
But it wasn’t all good news. After it was learned Saturday night that Wicks would be scratched, the Cubs announced on Sunday that he was heading to the injured list with a forearm strain. That obviously sets off alarm bells though both Wicks and Counsell struck an optimistic tone.
“I think it made sense for us to be cautious here,” Counsell said. “We’ll have to see how it responds over the next week and see where we’re at. That’s the hope, that maybe we caught this soon enough and maybe it’s a short stint.”
Wicks said he felt the tightness while warming up for his last start, but once he got hot the sensation went away and he was able to work six strong innings. However, his forearm didn’t respond well during the week and on Saturday the decision was made to take a break.
Wicks said he wasn’t “overly concerned” though he won’t have imaging done until the team heads to New York, where they begin a four-game set on Monday. If the imaging comes back clean, he might avoid an extended stay on the IL.
There was also some good news regarding Cody Bellinger and his fractured right ribs. Bellinger is five days removed from the injury occurring but is already getting active. On Saturday he took dry swings. On Sunday, he hit off a tee and took about five swings off soft toss. He’s also been running and throwing.
“We gave him some days off and then we started activity,” Counsell said. “We’re just going to do a little more every day and see where that puts him. So far, we’ve had good days. We’re not at going game speed by any means yet, but we’ve had some good days.”
Bellinger said as long as he wakes up and feels good each morning, he’ll continue to add more to his plate. In Sept. 2021, then with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Bellinger collided with teammate Gavin Lux and fractured a left rib. That time, he only spent the minimum time on the IL. Bellinger seemed hopeful that that was possible this time around as well. But Counsell warned that Bellinger still needs to ramp up the intensity before getting too optimistic.
“The only difference — and I’m not trying to disagree with Cody — is that (the previous injury) was at the end of the season,” Counsell said. “There were very few games left. We’ve got a lot of games left. I don’t think playing in a lot of pain is what we want to tackle right now.”
Getting both Wicks and Bellinger pain-free and ready to go will be important. The Cubs aren’t going to rush either back, but getting good news on both was much-needed after a tough weekend in Boston.
3. Still searching for lefty relief
Along with calling up righty Daniel Palencia, the Cubs also selected the contract of lefty Richard Lovelady and sent down big lefty Luke Little. Little has the type of stuff that suggests he could be a dominant force out of the bullpen, though this season the results have yet to show.
“These are great experiences for Luke,” Counsell said. “He is getting a lot of feedback. Like any young player, there are things he can improve. We’ve sent him down and talked to the player development staff about some pretty clear things.”
There are slight mechanical tweaks and mental adjustments that Little needs to make. The primary concern now is Little’s slider, which he was struggling to command. Little felt he was locked in with the pitch last summer, but he’s been searching for that same feel this year. It’s led to righties dominating Little to an unsightly slash line of .313/.455/.625.
In Saturday’s outing, Little plunked two righties with the pitch and it was clear he didn’t know where it was going — as has been the case for much of the season. On the year, he has a 17.1 percent walk rate while striking out just 19.5 percent.
The Cubs have to hope Little or another lefty emerges who Counsell can trust to retire batters consistently. Mark Leiter Jr. has been lights out again — he struggled to get chase on his splitter Sunday night, though — but the Cubs have to avoid a situation like last season where Leiter was gassed by September.
(Top photo of Hayden Wesneski: Jaiden Tripi / Getty Images)
