If there is ever a time you can quibble with a three-game sweep, it’s certainly not when every win is needed for the Cubs to stay ahead of the Marlins for the final National League wild-card spot.
Not even when it’s a nervy 4-3 triumph over the Rockies; the worst team in the NL and the worst road record in baseball.
Not even when Julian Merryweather, working back-to-back days and pitching the ninth inning because of a litany of bullpen injuries, had to pitch over a pair of walks to open the inning.
Not even when Rockies starter Ty Blach, sporting a miniscule strikeout rate and an ERA over 5.00 after allowing seven runs his last time out, was able to pitch over three walks and two hit batters to hold the Cubs to a single run over the first five innings of a virtual must-win game.
“I couldn’t even tell you about one score of any other game, I was worried about us,” starter Jordan Wicks said after allowing three runs in six innings. “We’re in a position where if we’re able to take care of our own business, we’re in a really good spot. That’s how we look at it.”
The Cubs, by the skin of their teeth, by Yan Gomes throwing out fleet-footed Brenton Doyle at second after a leadoff single in the eighth, by Merryweather settling in after another crucial Tommy Hottovy mound visit to strand two runners, took care of business Sunday.
Patrick Wisdom, in his first start since Monday, hitting a go-ahead two-run homer off Blach in the sixth can feel like an out-of-nowhere contribution to lift the Cubs by the slimmest of margins. But it’s a product of the lineup balance they have cultivated, as a host of left-handed pinch-hitting options were at the ready if the Rockies pivoted away from Blach.
“I had to go all-in, I couldn’t be questioning it,” Wisdom said of embracing his role of hitting against lefties. Sure enough, he was subbed out for Miles Mastrobuoni on defense as the Cubs leaned on their depth right after Wisdom’s momentous blast. “We really like our position and where we’re at right now.”
The position of holding the third NL wild-card spot by a game, albeit with the Marlins holding the tiebreaker, is better than chasing a spot in the final week. But heading into six road games against division leaders, there’s certainly a slight strain showing.
Cubs manager David Ross said the starting rotation is set for the rest of the season, but that includes Justin Steele coming off back-to-back poor outings, Marcus Stroman still stretching out after injury and Wicks throwing as many innings this season as he ever has in his career.
“Oh, we’ve surpassed that,” Wicks said with a laugh.
Adbert Alzolay threw another bullpen session Sunday in the hopes of returning during the final weekend, but Michael Fulmer sounds questionable to return for the remainder of this year. Mark Leiter Jr. is active but hasn’t pitched since allowing three runs Tuesday, and Ross declined to answer when asked if he was trying to rest his heavily worked setup man all weekend. That left Merryweather and Jose Cuas as the only high-leverage relief options left standing, as they flip-flopped the eighth and ninth innings the past two days.
And that means Merryweather, pitching more innings this season at age 31 than he has in his entire major-league career, working through his own jam with no margin for error to keep the Cubs’ playoff hopes alive.
“Everyone relatively is getting worn down at this point of the season, it’s about how you adjust to how your body is feeling,” Merryweather said, “We want to be in the playoffs and in this playoff race. If you’re ready for those moments, that’s the guys you want out there and the guys that are going to come through for us.”
