Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (8/6/2019): Athletics 11, Cubs 4 – Lester Rocked in Blowout Loss

The Cubs have been on an absolute roll at Wrigley Field this season. They’re sporting a 40-18 record at the friendly confines and with a victory on Tuesday they’d clinch their fifth winning season at home. It would be up to Jon Lester to extend their winning streak to five games.

Lester manage to escape trouble for one inning, but the A’s offense ambushed him in the 2nd. In total, the Athletics scored eight runs on seven hits. The big blow, a three-run homer off the bat of Dustin Garneau. After the dust settled it was an ugly 43 pitch inning for Lester.

For good measure, Stephen Piscotty hit the second three-run home of the game for the A’s in the top of the 4th to make it 11-0. Lester was unable to get through five innings on a night when the bullpen needed a rest.

The Cubs’ offense was finally able to get to A’s starter Brett Anderson in bottom of the 6th inning. Newly acquired Nicholas Castellanos collected his 41st double of the season and was along for the ride on a Kris Bryant two-run homer to left making it 11-2 A’s.

The Cubs made some noise in the bottom of the 9th. Kyle Schwarber entered the game in the top off the inning as an emergency catcher and swatted a two-run single to left helping cut the lead to 11-4. Their mini-rally, however, fell well short as they ultimately fall to the A’s, 11-4. (Box Score)

Why the Cubs lost

An abysmal and uncharacteristically bad outing from Lester spelled doom for the Cubs.

Key Moment

A triple to Mark Canha ignited an eight run 2nd inning for the A’s and ultimately decided the game from there.

Stats That Matter

• Jon Lester – 4 IP, 10 H, 11 R, 3 BB, 6 K. Just an ugly outing for Lester as he almost matches a career high in runs allowed in a game. That’s now two clunkers in a row for the big man.
• Nicholas Castellanos – 2-for-5, 2 doubles, 1 R. He is having one hell of a home stand, 9-for-20, HR, .412 AVG.
• Kris Bryant – 2-for-5, 2-run homer. It was a welcome site to see this type of performance after Bryant has been nursing a sore knee and not hitting up to his normal level lately.
• Daune Underwood, Jr. – 2 IP, 6K. Quite the big league debut for Underwood. Striking out the side twice and settling down an A’s team that was hitting the ball all over the yard. He tied a franchise record for six consecutive strike outs by a reliever.

Bottom Line

As Joe Maddon likes to say, “Burn the tape from this one and throw it in the lake.” Not much more can be said here. Give credit to the offense for showing fight in the later innings and not going down meekly. Also, the bullpen did a tremendous job not letting the game get even more out of hand.

On Deck

The Cubs wrap up their series with the Athletics on Wednesday afternoon at 1:20 p.m. CT. Jose Quintana takes on Homer Bailey. The game can be seen on NBC Sports Chicago and heard on 670 The Score.