CHICAGO -- One of the compliments you hear about Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon from people around the team is that he plays to win that night’s game. He’s not concerned with the next day or the previous one. And he’s not afraid to use his whole bench.
Maddon seemed to go against that thinking Wednesday night in letting Jorge Soler bat with the Cubs down 1-0 in the eighth inning of Game 2 of their doubleheader against the San Diego Padres. At stake was avoiding their first two-game losing streak of the season. Soler had struck out three times, while one of the team’s hottest and best clutch hitters (at least within a small sample size), Addison Russell, was on the bench. He stayed there while Soler struck out a fourth time against lefty Brad Hand with the bases loaded and two out. After the game, Maddon was asked if he thought of pinch-hitting for Soler.
“Of course not,” Maddon responded after the 1-0 loss. “You don’t do that. This is a guy that’s a big part of our future. He could just as easily put the ball over the wall and get a knock. … There is really no thought of that.”
It’s admirable of Maddon to back his .175 hitter, but he also could have backed his pitcher who threw eight innings of one-run ball. John Lackey was denied a possible win as Russell remained on the bench with this slash line in games deemed late and close: .444/.500/.889/1.389. There’s not much closer or later than a 1-0 game with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning.
While that decision is bound to be a water-cooler topic -- or, rather, a Twitter and Facebook discussion -- until the Cubs play their next game, the bigger issue is why Soler is having so much trouble this season. Every step forward seems to be followed by a step, or more, back. Maddon started him in both ends of Wednesday's doubleheader. He went 1-for-8 with the four strikeouts in Game 2.
“Jorge gets a big hit in that situation, we wouldn’t be surprised about that,” teammate Ben Zobrist said. “He’ll come through in that situation next time.”
Most observers would be surprised if he came through at this point, but to be fair, there have been some good moments. Soler has brought home a run from third base with less than two outs four of five times this season, and he’s 1-for-1 advancing a runner from second to third with none out. Those are good signs, but it’s not enough as evidenced by his .536 OPS this season.
“He’s fine,” Maddon said. “There’s not a thing wrong. You can’t read into one game like that and denigrate a really good young prospect like that. He had a tough night, but he’ll be fine.”
The bottom line is Maddon can say those things and make the moves that he did Wednesday -- such as sitting his two hottest hitters to begin Game 2 -- because the Cubs are 25-8 and have the space in the standings to get other players right. Or at least try to. Would Maddon have made the same decision if the game had more meaning? We’ll never know, but barring a new injury, the Cubs will have another decision to make when Matt Szczur comes off the disabled list in a week. Maybe it’s already been made. Ryan Kalish is probably headed back to the minors, but even Kalish has contributed more than Soler lately, and this was a guy nearly playing in the Independent League just a month or so ago.
In the end, the back-to-back losses will soon be forgotten and the Cubs will get back to their winning ways, while maybe the faith Maddon showed in Soler will help him down the line. That would be the best result from the Cubs' first two-game skid of 2016.
“It’s strange because we hadn’t done it this year,” Zobrist said. “It’s a great thing. Here we are in May and it’s the first time we’ve lost two in a row.”
They nearly escaped it again Wednesday, but there were no late-inning heroics this time.