Bleed Cubbie Blue

Photo by Denis Poroy/ ——

Kevin Alcántara | Greg Swiercz / USA TODAY NETWORK Pelicans sweep the Red Sox. South Bend tops Ft. Wayne. Crow-Armstrong homers in Smokies loss. The Cubs released right-handed pitcher Tyler Duffey today. Iowa Cubs The Iowa Cubs were deep-sixed by the Columbus Clippers (Guardians), 5-3. Starter Caleb Kilian turned in the textbook “quality start,” but he got the loss anyway. Kilian allowed three runs on four hits over six innings. He struck out three, walked one and hit a batter. Codi Heuer gave up a two-run home run in his rehab appearance. Heuer was charged with...

Photo by Carmen Mandato/ Go get ‘em, Drew.

Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/ The Cubs lefthander will be out for a while, but hopefully not TOO long of a while. The Chicago Cubs today placed left-handed pitcher Justin Steele on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to June 1) with a left forearm strain and recalled catcher Miguel Amaya from Triple-A Iowa. So... this will mean Steele, who has a 2.65 ERA and 1.059 WHIP in 12 starts for the Cubs this season, will miss at least two starts. Hopefully, it’s nothing more than that. Hayden Wesneski, who took over from Steele when he left Wednesday’s game after three innings,...

Saturday’s game threads are all in this StoryStream.

Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports The Cubs go for two in a row over the host Padres. Saturday notes... NOT SCORING, BUT WINNING: In their last four games, the Cubs have scored a total of eight runs, yet won three of them. They have produced no more than eight runs in a four-game span 1,268 times since 1901. They have gone 3-1 only 35 times — just 25 that did not overlap another span. They were 3-1 while scoring a mere three runs in 1906. That span was part of a stretch in which they also were 3-1 while scoring four, five and six runs. They were 3-1 while scoring six runs...

Photo by Matt Dirksen/ Twenty-seventh in a series. Rucker has had his ups and downs but has mostly stayed in the major-league bullpen. Michael Patrick Rucker was drafted by the Cubs in the 11th round of the 2016 Major-League Draft. The odds of him making the major-league team from that spot are long, but Rucker put in his time in the minor-league system, surfacing first with a forgettable 2021 stint where he pitched 28⅓ innings and ended up with a 6.99 ERA. Still he was effective enough in spots to get a spot in the 2022 bullpen, where he was much more effective,...

Photo by Megan Briggs/ The Cubs win for the third time in four games This organization man. If you are new to being a Cubs fan, run and hide. This fandom isn’t for the faint of heart. They suck you in and then they rip out your heart and stomp up and down on it. We all know it’s coming again, right? I mean that’s always how it goes. Anyway, I warned you. Proceed with caution. You’re still here? Holy cow, people. This team. I’ll leave it to the real historians to tell us how unusual it is for four consecutive games to be decided by one run. But here we are and...

Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports And so the Cubs won their third one-run game this week. You, the reader of this recap, are a Cubs fan. And you have seen this year’s Cubs bullpen blow lead after lead after lead. Thus, like me, you were watching the last few innings of Friday night’s game wondering: In what spectacular yet entertaining fashion were the Cubs going to do that in this one? And then... that didn’t happen. Instead, Brandon Hughes, Julian Merryweather, Adbert Alzolay and Mark Leiter Jr. combined for 3⅓ innings of scoreless relief, striking out seven, as...

Photo by Denis Poroy/ #Cubs, #MLB, and #MiLB news you can use, four days a week. Jameson Taillon performed with surgical precision and the Cubs overcame the host Padres. They’re still not much in the clutch but it worked this time. Welcome to today’s episode of Cub Tracks news and notes™, a greatest-hits collection of Chicago-style beat writers and bloggers, ground from #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball, overheated, steeped in writers’ tears, and then cold-brewed overnight for maximum flavor. Hall of Famer Pat Hughes, describing the Padres' City Connect...

Miguel Amaya | Photo by Justin Casterline/ Iowa won one suspended from yesterday, but that’s the only good news of the day. The Cubs traded Vinny Nittoli, who had just opted out of his deal, to the Mets. We don’t know what the Cubs got in return, but it was probably someone named “cash.” To take Nittoli’s spot on the Iowa Cubs roster, the Cubs took Jordan Holloway off of the injured list. Iowa Cubs The Iowa Cubs split two games with the Columbus Clippers (Guardians), winning the finish of yesterday’s game 9-8 in ten innings and losing the...

Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/ Friday’s game threads are all right here. ——

Photo by Quinn Harris/ Go get ‘em, Jameson.

Photo by Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/ Friday’s game threads are all right here.

Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/ The Cubs open a series at Petco Park. Friday notes... ONE-RUN WOES: The Cubs are 4-11 so far in games decided by one run. If they continue at that pace, they will end the season at 12-33. They have never finished a full season with fewer than 15 wins by one run. They won 10 in the 60-game 2020 season and 13 in the 113-game 1994 season. They have lost more than 33 games by one run in four seasons: 1916 (23-37), 1974 (30-36), 2002 (18-36) and 1996 (21-34). (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53) SOME POSSIBLE REASONS FOR THOSE ONE-RUN WOES: Cubs relievers...