A Tip of the Recap – 6/1 (Cubs 2, Dodgers 1)

Cubs Record: 36-15 (1st in NL Central, 7.5 games ahead of Pittsburgh)

W: Jon Lester (9 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 10 K)

L: Mike Bolsinger (5 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 K)

MVP: Jon Lester

The Good

After a rocky start to the game, Jon Lester settled in beautifully to throw 9 innings of stellar baseball. He had hitters off balance and didn’t walk anybody during his outing. Two of the hits the Dodgers got were ground balls that were just out of the reach of Cubs defenders. Aside from being good for his own stat line, Lester’s complete game was beneficial because the bullpen had worked hard the past few days.

Kris Bryant launched a long bomb into the batter’s eye to give the Cubs the lead in the 3rd inning. It was his only hit of the game, and it was the only Cubs hit that mattered because the other runner that scored, Dexter Fowler, reached base via a walk.

Jason Heyward looked great at the plate today, reaching base twice in four plate appearances (1 hit and 1 walk) and working some deep counts. It appears as though he’s finally seeing the ball well and is going to break out of the funk he’s been in throughout the early portion of the season. I’m looking forward to seeing what Heyward can do when he’s locked in at the plate.

The Bad

The Cubs lineup was very meh today. They were facing a junkballer who was living up in the zone and, for some reason, they were not able to take advantage Well, outside of the Bryant bomb. Mike Bolsinger’s stuff is not overpowering, as his fastball was sitting in the upper 80’s was mainly throwing his breaking pitches. Bolsinger could not hit the zone with any regularity, but somehow he would always come back in at bats to get the Cubs hitters out. I’m thinking this is one of those funks that a team goes through during the course of a season, but it’s not pretty to watch and I hope they get out of it soon. Any fuss over how the lineup isn’t producing right now is much ado about nothing, though, because they’re still winning games.

The Ugly

There really wasn’t anything that was ugly in this game. Both teams played well on defense and didn’t make any silly errors in the field or on the basepaths.

Coming Attractions

Kyle Hendricks (3-4, 2.93 ERA, 0.98 WHIP) will face rookie Julio Urias (0-0, 10.13 ERA, 3.38 WHIP) at 1:20 CT Thursday in the final matchup of this four-game series. The 19-year-old Urias will be making the second start of his young career after not faring well against the Mets in his first outing. The Cubs look to win the series, while the Dodgers attempt to even the score.