CHICAGO -- The lopsided number that was placed in the old scoreboard beyond the center-field bleachers at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night told a misleading story. There was an entertaining, tightly-contested game of baseball -- until things quickly collapsed on the North Siders.
The “9” placed in the slot for the top of the 11th inning marked a historic showing for the Giants and the damage all came at the expense of Cubs veteran Ryan Pressly. In the wake of the 14-5 loss to San Francisco, the 36-year-old Pressly shouldered the blame for a game that, at one point, had the makings of a would-be comeback win.
“It’s all on me tonight,” Pressly said. “I didn’t do my job.”
The nine runs plated in the 11th by the Giants set a Cubs franchise record for runs allowed in an extra-inning frame, according to team historian Ed Hartig. The previous record of seven was set in the 10th inning of a game on June 18, 1921 (also against the Giants). The nine-run defeat was also the largest extra-inning loss in Cubs history.
According to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, the Giants’ victory was tied for the fifth-largest extra-inning win in the last 125 seasons.
As for Pressly, he became only the eighth reliever in recorded MLB history to face at least eight batters without registering a single out. The right-hander joined Detroit’s Hank Borowy (Aug. 18, 1951) as the only relievers on that list to also be charged with at least nine runs.
“The score doesn’t make it look like a good baseball game. It was a good baseball game,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “The 11th was not a good inning for us, but it was two teams playing good. We made a nice comeback, did some good things, did some great things in the ninth inning to get it there. And we had shots to win it.”
Kyle Tucker’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning capped off a two-run burst to pull the game into a 5-5 tie. Cubs righty Porter Hodge then navigated the 10th inning without incident, but San Francisco lefty Erik Miller also did his part in the home half, retiring Nico Hoerner, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Dansby Swanson in order with two runners aboard.
With six pitchers already having worked in the game, Counsell handed the ball to Pressly.
Dating back to April 20, Pressly had only appeared in two games -- on April 27 against the Phillies and then Thursday in Pittsburgh -- in a span of 15 days. In the week leading up to that outing against Philadelphia, the reliever dealt with a right knee issue that required draining and recovery time. Both Counsell and Pressly said Tuesday that the pitcher is healthy.
“We’re good,” Counsell said.
“Everything is fine. Body felt great,” Pressly added later.
In the 11th inning, Heliot Ramos got things started with a double to left that shot off his bat with a 108.3 mph exit velocity, per Statcast. Patrick Bailey followed with a hard-hit single that brought in a run. Brett Wisely then bunted a pitch, which Pressly gloved, but could not get cleanly to catcher Carson Kelly to stop another run from scoring.
From there, Pressly issued a walk (Mike Yastrzemski), hit a batter (Willy Adames) and then allowed three consecutive singles to Jung Hoo Lee, Matt Chapman and Wilmer Flores. The Chapman hit scored two runs and had a 104.4 mph exit velocity. Per Statcast, Pressly has allowed a 50% hard-hit rate (24 out of 48 batted ball events) this season.
“I thought I executed my pitches really well,” Pressly said. “I wasn’t really leaving anything over the middle part of the plate.”
“He couldn’t finish hitters, essentially. That was it,” Counsell said. “And it snowballed a little bit.”
Counsell was quick to note that Pressly’s previous 10 appearances had gone well. In that span, the right-hander yielded just one unearned run over 10 innings, allowing only six hits along the way. Pressly still only had four strikeouts in that span, compared to three walks, continuing a season-opening trend.
While Pressly’s fastball velocity (93.3 mph on average this season) and other metrics have been in line with last year’s showing, he has struggled to miss bats. After Tuesday’s performance – one that saw his season ERA jump to 7.62 from 2.08 in 14 games -- Pressly now has an 8.1% strikeout rate and 12.9% walk rate.
“The swing-and-miss, we’re struggling with,” Counsell said. “And that’s the, ‘finishing the hitter.’ But, he’s been making pitches, for sure. Just not tonight.”