On our latest episode we talked about the relative lack of bright spots, but we overlooked what was surely one of the biggest from the weekend set: the bullpen showed up.
In the 4 games the bullpen pitched 14 innings (a couple short outings in there from Hendricks and Taillon) and allowed 1 run. One. And that wasn’t just luck. 9 hits, 5 walks (that’s an even 1.00 WHIP) and 20 strikeouts (!) in those 14 innings. The three games that hadn’t already gotten out of hand stayed close because the Cubs pen locked down the Pirates.
I will grant that it is generally accepted that the Pirates offense is not good, but just as you can only beat the teams which are on your schedule, the only batters a pitcher can retire are the ones he faces. They did an exemplary job, and if the Cubs offense was clicking in any way they might have taken more than one of those 3 one-run games.
Cubs Outsider 
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