Forget about losing 17-0, who gives a shit, the Chicago Cubs almost had another catastrophic injury during Saturday’s game against the Boston Red Sox. Christopher Morel collided with Alexander Canario down the left-field line to end the seventh inning and for a few minutes Cubs fans were in full-blown panic mode.
This looked awful and then Morel was taken out of the game.
The Cubs are already without Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger, and those guys are still going to be out for several weeks. Sure, you might be saying that Morel has been awful at the plate lately, but he had been turning it around since the second game of last Saturday’s double header against the Miami Marlins.
You really want to see Patrick Wisdom and Nick Madrigal getting all the playing time at third base? I didn’t think so.
Luckily, it appears as though we can all breathe a sigh of relief because Cubs manager Craig Counsell didn’t sound worried at all about Morel’s status following the game.
Morel also spoke to the media and while the collision obviously banged up his elbow and hip, the Cubs third baseman is confident that he’ll be ready to go for the series finale.
Fingers crossed that Morel will be OK moving forward. Earlier this week Bellinger banged up against the wall at Wrigley Field and said he was fine after the game only to be placed on the injured list the next day after a CT scan discovered two fractured ribs.
Morel is only slashing .219/.296/.365, after a brutal slump at the plate. However, in his last six games, including Saturday when he hit a double, Morel is turning the corner, going 6-for-21 (.286 batting average) with three doubles and four walks in 25 plate appearances. That comes out to a .400 OBP during the past week for Morel.
As for the rest of the game on Saturday, well Ben Brown got hit hard and Luke Little didn’t have any command once he came in during the fourth inning. Colten Brewer, who was called up from Triple-A last week, was the next reliever to come in, but at that point the Red Sox were already up 8-0. Brewer gave up three more runs before Matt Mervis and Patrick Wisdom pitched the eighth inning, when Boston scored six runs against the Cubs position players.
Stinkers happen. Move on. Let’s just hope Christopher Morel will indeed be fine.
