ATLANTA — A routine fly ball turned into a nightmare for Seiya Suzuki and the Chicago Cubs at Truist Park — and with it a heartbreaking blow to their postseason hopes.
The Cubs were an out away in the eighth inning from escaping with a one-run lead intact when left-hander Drew Smyly got Atlanta Braves catcher Sean Murphy to hit a ball to right field with runners on second and third base. What should have been an easy inning-ending fly out to Suzuki became a disaster. Suzuki whiffed on the would-be inning-ending catch, allowing two runs to score on his error.
The Cubs went down in the ninth to seal a devastating 7-6 loss Tuesday night in a game they led 6-0 entering the bottom of the sixth. The Milwaukee Brewers clinched the division title in the process while the Cubs (82-75) try to hold onto to the final National League wild card position. They sit 1/2 game ahead of the Miami Marlins, who own the tiebreaker and play a doubleheader Wednesday at the New York Mets.
“Seiya has been carrying us for over a month and a half offensively, he’s put us on his back,” manager David Ross said after the game. “A lot of guys have been scuffling and he’s been the guy swinging the bat the best so we’re not going to highlight one mistake. There’s other areas — we could have scored more runs, get guys in from third less than two outs, we could have made some pitches earlier in the game but we didn’t. Got to pick our heads up and go back out tomorrow.”
A beleaguered Cubs bullpen tried to grind out a win. What had been a dominant night through five innings quickly unraveled in the sixth for Justin Steele, who entered the inning with a six-run lead. The Atlanta Braves’ relentless offensive firepower is a big part of why they own the best record in baseball, and their deep lineup finally got to Steele with four of their first five hitters reaching to begin the sixth.
Kevin Pillar’s solo home run off Steele to open the frame marked the Braves’ 300th home run of the season, making them the third team in MLB history to hit that milestone, joining the 2019 Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees. Steele recovered to retire Ronald Acuña Jr., but Ross saw enough from Ozzie Albies (double), Austin Riley (walk) and Matt Olson (RBI double) to pull his ace. Steele paced around the mound as he watched Ross begin the trek from the dugout.
Yan Gomes’ infield hit — his 15th of the year and fifth-most on the team — followed by Miles Mastrobuoni’s single, as part of a three-hit game, produced back-to-back two-out RBIs put the Cubs ahead of the Braves 2-0 in the second. The Cubs added two more runs off Braves starter Bryce Elder when Suzuki hit a third-inning triple.
Cody Bellinger (RBI single in the fourth) and Ian Happ (RBI single in the sixth) completed the Cubs’ scoring.