Game Recap: Bullpen struggles in Cubs loss to Padres

David Frerker - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 1 day ago

SAN DIEGO - For all the talk about the Los Angeles Dodgers being the best team in baseball, the San Diego Padres (14-3) need to enter that conversation as they lead the NL West and have the best record in Major League Baseball. Ironically, two of their three losses came to the Chicago Cubs (11-8) last weekend as they met up again for the final time this season.

A big reason for the Padres early season success, has been their ability to win games at Petco Park as the Padres entered Monday with an unbeaten record at home. After what was looking to be their first home loss, with the Cubs leading 3-1 after five, it was the Padres offense coming to life late as they struck for eight runs off the bullpen.

That included a miserable seventh inning from Nate Pearson, who allowed the go-ahead and game-winning run to score as it took him six batters to retire the first hitter of that inning. Three runs came in to score before that out was recorded, as that was the difference in the Padres' 10-4 victory. This was one of those games where you felt for Jameson Taillon, as he deserved a better fate than a no-decision.

Ideally, the Cubs would've loved to get six innings out of their right-hander, but after allowing two runs on three hits in 5 1/3, Taillon did his part on the mound as he gave the Cubs another great start. The same can be said about Dylan Cease, who got off to a strong start and had one rough inning only to bounce back and finish strong as he, too, failed to finish the sixth, going 5 2/3 innings with six punchouts.

Going back to their series against the Sacramento Athletics over the weekend, the Padres pitching staff was on quite a roll as they entered the game with a 34-inning scoreless streak before adding to that in this one. Apart from a pair of hits from Nico Hoerner and Miguel Amaya in the early innings, Cease kept the Cubs bats in check through three innings as the scoreless streak reached 37 innings.

Like Cease, Taillon was off and running early as he allowed just one batter past the minimum entering the third. He continued that streak by retiring the first two hitters only to have Fernando Tatis Jr touch him up for a solo shot to put the Padres in front 1-0. You never want to be trailing this team at home, given how they have played this season, but the Cubs are one of those teams that won't back down from a challenge, and they took that challenge head-on in the fourth.

What started with a leadoff error allowing Justin Turner to reach was followed up by a third Michael Busch homer in as many games as the Cubs were now in front 2-1. Chicago kept the pressure on, with Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong picking up a pair of doubles to add another run as the Cubs were in front 3-1. That would be it for their offense for most of the night, but given the way Taillon was pitching three runs was looking to be enough.

It was starting to look as if Taillon's success was beginning to wear off in the fifth, as a leadoff error allowed Jose Iglesias to reach while a two-out single put a pair of runners on. As was the case most of the night, Taillon found a way to escape the jam as the Cubs maintained their 3-1 lead. Looking to add to their lead in the top half of the sixth, it was the Cubs putting together a two-out rally as Crow-Armstrong and Amaya picked up a pair of singles only to be stranded on the bases.

The bottom of the sixth was the beginning of the end for the Cubs and a large part of it was the unlucky bounces that went the Padres way. After walking Manny Machado with one down in the inning, Craig Counsell elected to go to the pen and called on Brad Keller to keep the Cubs in front. As good as Keller has been this season, this wasn't his best outing as he allowed a Gavin Sheets single ahead of the Xander Bogaerts walk as the Padres had the bases loaded with one down.

Then came the massive momentum swing of the game as Iglesias and Jason Heyward delivered consecutive infield singles to push across a pair of runs and brought the Padres back to even 3-3. Keller would eventually get out of the inning, but with the damage already done, the Cubs had their work cut out for them late.

Things only got worse from there for Chicago as Nate Pearson took over in the seventh and went on to have an outing to forget. After walking Tatis Jr to lead things off, Pearson would allow a Luis Arraez double to put a pair of runners on base as the Padres were threatening once again. Then came the intentional walk to load the bases, as this was the biggest moment of the game.

In desperate need of a strikeout, Pearson didn't help himself as he put the Padres in front with a wild pitch before serving up a Gavin Sheets single that extended the San Diego lead to 6-3. Another walk to Bogaerts kept the inning going for the Padres, as it took six batters for Pearson to retire a batter before yielding to Eli Morgan to finish things off.

With this game now a battle of the bullpens, the Cubs could only hope that their non-high-leverage guys could keep things up to give the offense a chance, especially after watching Amaya pick up another hit and use an RBI double to pull the Cubs within 6-4. That was as close as the Cubs would get as Morgan stayed out for the eighth and allowed back-to-back homers to Tatis Jr and Arraez, putting the Cubs in a 9-4 hole. Morgan would exit the game with an undisclosed injury, but at this point, this game was all but over.

San Diego would add one more run in the bottom of the eighth off an RBI fielder's choice before the Cubs would go down quietly in the ninth. The Cubs did manage to pick up 11 hits in the win, three coming from Amaya and Crow-Armstrong, as they continue to play well. The Cubs will look to even things up on Tuesday when they turn to Shota Imanaga against Randy Vasquez.