The Cubs were blown out in the opener of their divisional round series against the Brewers on Saturday, and as always in a playoff loss, the question becomes: Who’s to blame? There are plenty of culprits but infielder Nico Hoerner has a strong candidate.
Himself.
It was Hoerner’s error on a slow grounder in the first inning, with the score at 2-1, that not only cost the Cubs a shot at an inning-ending double play but also granted the Brewers some extra at-bats, which they converted into a six-run first inning that effectively put the game out of reach. The Brewers scored on the error, too.
âObviously, that play had an impact, not just win and loss implications, but just the entire use of the pitching staff and everything like that,â Hoerner told reporters. âHad a huge effect on that game and momentum. … . Unfortunately, that mistake I made led to a lot of runs today.â
Cubs Couldn’t Slow Brewers Offense
Indeed, it’s hard to say that Hoerner making that play would have given the Cubs all that much more of a chance in Game 1. But the Brewers came in swinging hot bats, and started the game with three straight doubles before starter Matthew Boyd finally got an out. The Brewers likely would have gotten a run even if Hoerner had made the play, but Boyd got a strikeout on the next better.
The damage might have been limited to 3-1 at that point. Instead, Boyd gave up another hit and was pulled having gotten just two outs in the start.
âHard to predict win or loss based on plays in the first inning, but just get an out like you do most of the time in that situation on the play that I missed,â Hoerner said. âAnd [then I] loved Mattyâs chances to get out of that inning with two runs and settle in like weâve seen him do many times this year.â
Craig Counsell Defends Matthew Boyd Decision
Starting Boyd at all was something of a risky call from manager Craig Counsell to begin with. Boyd was going on three days rest after throwing 58 pitches in the opener of the wild-card series against the Padres, and he had not pitched on short rest since 2017.
Counsell was confident in Boyd coming into the game, but Boyd was not up to the task. Still, Counsell defended the decision on Saturday.
“We picked Matt Boyd to pitch. I don’t know what to say,” Counsell said. “He pitched. He pitched; it didn’t go well. We’ve got to make decisions. We went with Matt. We’re very comfortable — I was very comfortable putting Matt Boyd on the mound today. The whole organization was comfortable putting Matt Boyd on the mound today.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Cubs’ Nico Hoerner Takes Blame for Game 1 Loss vs. Brewers appeared first on Heavy Sports.