PHOENIX – For seven innings, Tuesday night looked like a rerun of Monday night’s shutout Cubs win.
By night’s end, it was a rerun of the two walk-off losses the team suffered at the start of their current road trip.
Righty starter Clay Holmes turned in the Cubs’ second straight stellar effort from a pitcher the team acquired at the trade deadline, matching the seven scoreless innings righty Kevin Gausman threw a night earlier and allowing only two hits.
But the bullpen stumbled, with righty fireballer Daniel Palencia allowing three runs in the eighth inning and righty Jacob Webb giving up a two-out, two-run walk-off homer in the ninth to send the Cubs to a 5-4 defeat against the Diamondbacks, their third walk-off loss in their last five games.
“I was trying to do my job. It wasn’t my night,” Palencia said after the game. “They beat me today.”
The D-backs’ rally started frighteningly when Palencia hit outfielder Jordan Lawlar in the helmet with a 98.5 mile an hour pitch. Lawlar fell to the ground as the extended flap that the pitch hit went flying, but he wasn’t down for too long and walked off the field with the trainer.
Palencia walked the next batter before surrendering a pair of two-out hits, including a fluky double that bounced off first base, exiting with three runs on the board and the Cubs’ lead down to a run.
“I don’t think it was a bad inning by Danny,” manager Craig Counsell said. “But the bottom line is there were some free passes. Essentially there were two free base-runners with the walk and the hit batter. Then they had some batted-ball luck and a good swing.”
Webb issued his own walk in the ninth inning before giving up the homer to Ryan Waldschmidt, the second walk-off homer Webb’s allowed in as many outings following a streak of 24 straight scoreless appearances.
The story changed in a hurry after Holmes picked up where Gausman left off a night earlier, looking the part of a top-of-the-rotation arm as the Cubs steam toward the home stretch of the regular season and the playoffs.
Jed Hoyer’s front office spent prospect capital to land both guys, with Holmes arguably costing the most in the organization’s No. 2-ranked prospect, infielder Jefferson Rojas.
But the cost has seemed well worth it, as the Cubs look to have two battle-tested veterans they can count on as they plot a run that lasts deep into October.
“Starting pitchers, you feel what each other do, and when someone else is doing well, you want to take the baton and run with it, really,” Holmes said. “When you have … what Gaus did, what this rotation is capable of doing, you want to follow things up and continue the momentum that’s being built.”
For all the talk of Gausman’s recent World Series experience – he was strong in the postseason last year, starting twice against the Dodgers – Holmes is only one more year removed from his own Fall Classic success, appearing in all five games of the 2024 Series during his time as the Yankees’ All-Star closer.
But his move from relief work to starting has gone swimmingly, and the Cubs have a pitcher who’s posted a sparkling 1.96 ERA in his first four outings with his new team.
“They’re guys that have pitched in big moments, big spots, and that we have a lot of faith in,” said left fielder Ian Happ, who hit a three-run homer Tuesday. “It’s been fun to watch them work.”