Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Michael Kopech had walked three straight batters and allowed a sac-fly to Isaac Paredes to begin the ninth inning as the Chicago Cubs were rallying from a 10-7 deficit. With one out and runners at first and second, the Cubs were trailing 10-8 and Michael Busch was at the plate. On Kopech’s 0-1 delivery, Seiya Suzuki attempted to steal third base and was thrown out on a perfect throw from Will Smith.
Busch ended up striking out and that was it for the Cubs ninth-inning rally.
Seiya Suzuki thrown out at third pic.twitter.com/VF1Or0os5X
— Cubs Highlights (@Cubs_Highlights) September 12, 2024
Live it may have looked as though the call to steal came from the dugout and that was a fair assumption because Craig Counsell made a similar call back in June against the San Francisco Giants. In that scenario, the Cubs were trailing 4-3 in the eighth inning with two outs and two runners on. Ian Happ was thrown out at third on the double steal and the Cubs lost the game by a run.
However, that game in San Francisco was coming at a time in the season when the Cubs offense was desperately trying to manufacture any scoring chance it could. As of late, the Cubs offense has been on a tear on the road and it seemed like Kopech was on the ropes in the ninth inning. It didn’t make a lot of sense to force the issue, although you could see wanting to get two runners in scoring position and get a couple cracks at tying the game with a hit.
Yet, this call did not come from Counsell. Following the 10-8 loss Suzuki owned up to the mistake.
On Marquee Sports Network, Cliff Floyd was mainly upset about Suzuki not having a big enough lead off second base.
“Your lead has to be big enough when [Kopech] steps off.”
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) September 12, 2024
Cliff Floyd on Seiya Suzuki’s attempted steal of 3rd base in the 9th. pic.twitter.com/4iUZptuaVU
Unfortunately that wasn’t the only base running blunder by the Cubs Wednesday night. In the fifth inning, when the offense scored four times to tie the game 7-7, Pete Crow-Armstrong did not pick up his head running around first base following his RBI-single to right field with the bases loaded. Busch, who was at second to begin the play, was held up at third base which Crow-Armstrong did not see until it was too late.
PCA had his mind on getting to second base, thinking Busch was sent and Nico Hoerner would be going to third. Instead, the Cubs rookie did not see that Busch was given the stop sign until the throw came into the infield and he was already halfway to second. Busch tried to get in a rundown to move up runners to second and third, but he was tagged between third and home.
Not great as the Cubs would have had the bases loaded with one out. Instead, it turned into runners at first and second with two outs. Veteran catcher Christian Bethancourt was up next and he struck out to end the scoring threat.
Counsell didn’t mince his words with reporters after the game.
Via Meghan Montemurro.
“The two mistakes on the bases, which are inexcusable frankly, just is enough to not get past a team like that…You give them 2 outs & who knows what happens if we don’t make those outs but those are outs we can prevent.”
A sour end to an otherwise good series win for the Cubs in Los Angeles. While the base running mistake by Suzuki is getting the most attention in the loss, it was an awful start for lefty Jordan Wicks. He only lasted three innings after allowing seven earned runs. That included surrendering four home runs in the first inning, including three in a row, after the Cubs jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
The Cubs are off Thursday as they head over to Colorado to begin a three-game series against the Rockies.
