CHICAGO -- Pedro Ramírez sent a pitch from Reds reliever Tejay Antone bouncing off a stairway beyond the right-field bleacher seats in the eighth inning on Friday afternoon. A few batters later, Seiya Suzuki ripped a run-scoring double off lefty Sam Moll. Wrigley Field was buzzing in anticipation of another late-game miracle.
The Cubs hammered out five runs across the seventh and eighth innings, but another walk-off win was not in the cards. The damage done earlier by Chicago’s bullpen put the North Siders on course for a 10-8 loss to the Reds in the opener of a three-game series at the Friendly Confines.
“We were one hit away multiple times,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “We were one hit away from tying the game in the eighth, specifically, and getting a little closer in a couple innings. But, you’re going to make some outs, too. We gave up 10 today. That’s going to be tough. Tough winning games giving up 10.”
With the defeat, the National League Wild Card-leading Cubs slipped to 7 1/2 games behind the first-place Brewers in the NL Central race, pending the result of Milwaukee’s game on Friday night. Chicago was only three games back as recently as Aug. 14, but has since lost eight of its last 12 games.
Here are three takeaways from Friday’s loss:
1. Rough week for bullpen
One of the goals for the final month of the season for the Cubs has to be determining which bullpen arms can gain the most trust as a potential postseason run approaches. Lately, there have been some snags for Chicago’s relief corps.
Consider the recent three-day road trip against the D-backs. The Cubs’ trio of starting pitchers -- Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes and Matthew Boyd -- combined for a 0.45 ERA (one run allowed in 20 innings combined), but Chicago still lost two out of three in the desert. That was largely due to the 9.53 ERA posted by the bullpen in Arizona.
Back home against the Reds, Cubs lefty David Peterson was solid enough over five innings and exited the mound with Chicago holding a 3-2 advantage. Righty Trent Thornton took over in the sixth and allowed a game-tying homer to Jose Trevino before things slipped further away. Tyler Stephenson punctuated a five-run outburst off Thornton with a three-run shot to center.
“He made some bad pitches and they hit them,” Counsell said of Thornton, who had not allowed a run in August and had a 1.59 ERA in his previous 26 appearances dating back to June 24. “Trent’s been really, really good for a good stretch here. But he made some bad pitches today.”
When the smoke cleared on Friday’s game, the Cubs’ bullpen was charged with eight runs (six earned) in its four innings of work. The unit has posted a 6.98 ERA (15 earned runs in 19 1/3 innings, going in) across Chicago’s last six games.
2. Peterson changes things up
Peterson makes his living by keeping opposing lineups on the ground, leaning heavily on his sinker to do so. Against the Reds, the veteran southpaw balanced his sinker use with a changeup, and did so more than typical.
Peterson featured his changeup 25 times, which was his most in an outing since June 27, 2023 (also 25). This was only the second time this year -- and first since June 15 -- that the lefty’s changeup was his most-used pitch (28% against Cincinnati). That was a noticeable jump over the 13% usage overall this season for Peterson’s changeup.
“It felt good,” Peterson said of the changeup. “It felt good the last couple outings, and so it worked in the game plan to try to keep them off-balance. It was a good option for us today.”
Over his five innings, Peterson finished with 12 of the 15 outs recorded coming either via strikeout or groundout (six apiece). The lefty limited the Reds to two runs, including one on a solo homer by Sal Stewart in the fifth, and walked off the hill with a 2.35 ERA across his last nine appearances for the North Siders.
“I thought David did a nice job,” Counsell said. “There were some baserunners and there was some traffic, but he navigated it and he made some big pitches, especially early in the game with multiple guys on. He walks out of the game with two runs and gives us a chance to win, for sure.”
3. Busch’s offensive upswing
First baseman Michael Busch was one of the Cubs’ top power threats all last season and into the playoffs. Getting him on a roll across the final few weeks of the regular season could be an important development for Chicago’s lineup.
In the third inning on Friday, Busch laced a 1-1 fastball from Reds starter Rhett Lowder out to right field with an exit velocity of 102.5 mph, per Statcast. The two-run homer was Busch’s 17th of the season and pushed the Cubs to a 3-0 lead at the time. The blast also came after Busch posted a 1.021 OPS with two homers, three doubles and seven walks in his eight previous games.