Gausman stumbles in 5th while Cavalli shuts down Cubs' offense

WASHINGTON -- As Michael Busch slowed down at first base in the seventh inning on Thursday, cheers began to fill Nationals Park. They were both out of respect for Nationals righty Cade Cavalli’s bid at history, but also mixed with the Cubs fans on hand who were happy to see it end.

Busch’s bloop single to left snapped Cavalli’s run at a no-hitter at 20 batters, but the Cubs were unable to avoid a 7-0 loss to the Nationals to close out this three-game set. Chicago starter Kevin Gausman ran into trouble in his second outing with his new team, sending the Cubs to a 4-2 showing on this swing through Kansas City and the nation’s capital.

“We just ran into a really good pitcher,” Gausman said. “He’s having a great year. He kind of handed it to us today. You’ve kind of got to give those guys credit when credit’s due. I thought he pitched a heck of a game. And I just wasn’t good enough to get through six.”

Here were three takeaways from Thursday’s loss:

1. Gausman slips in fifth

Gausman was strong out of the gates on Thursday, retiring the first 10 batters he faced before yielding two hits and a run in the fourth. One inning later, the wheels came off and the veteran righty was chased from the contest.

While Gausman leaned heavily on his signature splitter in the first four frames -- using it 55.7% of the time to that point -- he backed off the pitch as the fifth spiraled on him. Jorbit Vivas (walk) and Andrés Chaparro (single) reached to open the fifth, paving the way for a sacrifice fly (Andrew Pinckney), three-run homer (Abimelec Ortiz) and RBI single (Daylen Lile).

“They got to his fastball, really,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “The three-run homers, in a game like that, that hit happens and with the way Cavalli’s pitching, it feels a little daunting. Ortiz had a nice game. He took some good swings this series. He’s a good young hitter.”

Gausman toiled through 30 pitches to the eight batters he faced in the fifth, walking off the field after 93 pitches (64 strikes) in 4 2/3 innings. The righty struck out seven and walked only one, but the damage was done. Six of the seven hits that Gausman allowed were off his four-seam fastball.

This was Gausman’s second outing for the North Siders since coming over at the Trade Deadline in a blockbuster deal with the Blue Jays. In his Cubs debut on Friday in Kansas City, Gausman leaned heavily on his splitter -- using it 53.1% of the time -- in a strong seven-inning performance.

“The fifth just got away from me,” Gausman said. “I just couldn’t kind of stop the bleeding. Made some pretty good pitches. Even the home run, I was trying to throw a fastball up. It seemed like that was kind of what [Ortiz] was looking for. It’s unfortunate, but one swing of the bat can kind of open up the game like that.”

2. Cavalli cruised vs. Cubs

The Cubs’ offense had been on quite a roll of late, adding another layer to the performance Cavalli turned in for Washington.

Over the previous three games, Chicago had scored 30 runs combined in wins over the Royals and Nationals. In the previous nine games, during which the Cubs went 8-1, the North Siders’ lineup rattled off an average of 7.1 runs per game. The unit had been firing on all cylinders with a blend of patience, power and speed.

Enter Cavalli, who had not faced the Cubs since Opening Day at Wrigley Field. This time around, he struck out 10 and held Chicago to that lone hit over eight innings. While Cole Hamels remains the last pitcher to throw a no-hitter against the Cubs (July 25, 2015), Cavalli is the first since Hamels to have 10 or more strikeouts in at least eight scoreless innings against the Cubs with no more than one hit yielded.

“That was a great pitching performance,” Counsell said. “It’s two really good breaking balls. A changeup sprinkled in. A cutter sprinkled in. And a fastball at 98-99 mph. He pitched really well. Give him a lot of credit.”

In Thursday’s game, Cavalli saw his fastball velocity jump 1.2 mph over his season average (98 mph vs. Cubs, compared to 96.8 in ‘26), while maxing out at 99.1 mph. Cavalli also leaned more on his sweeper than usual and led his six-pitch mix with his knuckle-curve. It was enough to keep Chicago’s hitters off-balance all night.

3. Civale saves the bullpen

The lopsided nature of Thursday’s game at least allowed Counsell to give his main bullpen arms an extra bit of rest.

In Wednesday’s 12-5 win over the Nationals, Counsell had righty Javier Assad work four innings behind starter David Peterson (five innings). On Thursday, it was right-hander Aaron Civale who got the call after Gausman. Civale worked the final 3 1/3 innings for Chicago -- effectively giving the Cubs’ main bullpen group two consecutive days off.