Everything was upbeat around the Cubs heading into Wednesday night’s game. They were on a four game winning streak, Kris Bryant reached an agreement on a deal, and the Cubs could get the renovation plans finalized on Thursday. O and their ace, Jeff Samardjiza was on the mound to try and extend their winning streak to five.
But it took four batters to ruin the day.
Coming off a bad start against the Pittsburgh Pirates last Friday, Samardjiza was looking to get back on track against the Angels. But right off the bat, things turned bad again for Shark. The first three batters of the game reached base and then Josh Hamilton smacked a three run homer into the Chicago wind to give the Angels an early 4-0 lead. And just to make the inning worse, Mark Trumbo hit a solo shot to extend the lead to five before the Cubs even got to bat.
After three scoreless innings for the Angels, it looked like Samardjiza calmed down and would be able to give the Cubs some innings. But then everything exploded once again. Albert Pujols hit yet another home run against the Cubs. and Hamilton followed that up with his second of the game. By then the Angels had a 8-1 lead but they weren’t done yet.
Henry Rodriguez came in to relieve Shark and picked up right where Samardjiza left off. Brendan Harris sent another ball over the left field wall to break double digits for the Angels. Samardjiza had a night to forget as he finished with a line of 4.2 innings pitched, nine hits, and nine earned runs.
There was much positives coming from the offensive side of things for the Cubs either. Cody Ransom was the only Cub able to muster up two hits. Anthony Rizzo went 1-4 with an RBI.
Another sour loss for the Cubs right before they take on the rival St. Louis Cardinals. But no matter what happened Wednesday or this entire weekend, the Cubs will be sellers as the trade deadline approaches. Should the Cubs now consider trading Samardjiza? That’s a topic that will be open for discussion among Cub fans.
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