[jksander]

July 25, 2025: Noah Schultz (5-0, 1.32 ERA, 47.2 IP, 47 K’s, 0.78 WHIP) took on Justin Steele (10-5, 3.05 ERA, 138.2 IP, 142 K’s, 1.03 WHIP) in game one of our crosstown series, and the Cubs took the lead in the top of the second off a one-out single with the bases loaded by Josh Rojas. Moments later a sac-fly by Ian Happ made it a two-run game. Our bats stayed completely quiet, and in the top of the fourth Rojas hit a three-run homer out of center to turn this into a 5-0 rout. Shane Smith took over in the top of the fifth, and he got us into the stretch without further damage. Mike Tauchman hit an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to get us on the board, and Eisert came out to pitch in the top of the eighth, but the Cubs were relentless. A two-run homer by Dansby Swanson made it a six-run lead, and Ian Happ knocked in two with a blast out of right against Jonathan Cannon in the ninth as they completed the 9-1 blowout win. Schultz lost his first game as a major leaguer, a four-inning effort with six hits, a walk, four strikeouts and five earned runs, giving him a 5-1 record and 2.09 ERA. The Cubs outhit us 10-7 but seven of their runs came off three homers, while Tauchman’s hit and a run were our offensive highlight.
 
July 26, 2025: Sean Burke (5-8, 4.53 ERA, 95.1 IP, 96 K’s, 1.33 WHIP) pitched in game two against the Cubs’ Matthew Boyd (8-4, 3.41 ERA, 121.1 IP, 128 K’s, 1.16 WHIP). The Cubs took the lead in the top of the second with a sac-fly by Pablo Aliendo and an RBI single by Happ, and our pitchers spent the rest of the game destroying themselves trying to keep the game close enough for our bats to do some work for a change. It didn’t happen. The Cubs didn’t score again, but we didn’t score at all, losing this one 2-0. Burke, who only had two hits in four innings, also happened to walk six batters with five strikeouts, letting the two runs score ... and we outhit them 6-2 and still couldn’t do a goddamned thing. What a waste! Starling Marte had two hits to nowhere in the loss, but the rest of our bats might as well have stayed home.

We completed two trades this afternoon ...

First, the Minnesota Twins sent us 35-year-old reliever Michael Tonkin, 24-year-old second baseman Brooks Lee and 19-year-old third baseman Hendry Chivilli in exchange for Tristan Grey, who has struggled to get past AAA for us this year and was therefore expendable. We then sent 29-year-old minor league left fielder Cory Julks to Cleveland in exchange for 32-year-old reliever Jacob Junis, 19-year-old first baseman Luis Merejo and 23-year-old middle infielder Yordys Valdes.

Tonkin we released immediately, at a cost of $351,000 and change, and Junis will replace Eisert in our bullpen for the moment, though his future isn’t secure. The biggest reasons for the moves were Lee and Valdes ... Lee is immediately going to replace Lenyn Sosa in the major league lineup, while Valdes will take over at shortstop. Both players immediately improve our team defensively, and they’re young with plenty of upside.

July 27, 2025: Ryan Weber (5-6, 3.96 ERA, 100.0 IP, 63 K’s, 1.21 WHIP) pitched against Ben Brown (3-7, 5.49 ERA, 105.0 IP, 96 K’s, 1.58 WHIP) in our final game aginst the Cubs on our field. The Cubs built a 3-0 lead by the middle of the third, but we got a run through in the bottom of the third off a Chase Meidroth single that scored Michael A. Taylor from second. Jonathan Cannon took over in the top of the seventh still trailing 3-1, but Seiya Suzuki got the Cubs back to a three-run lead with a groundout that scored Happ from third. They added on a run in the eighth, and again our offense completely failed to deliever as we lost 5-1. Weber pitched six innings with seven hits, a walk and three strikeouts, allowing three runs as his record fell to 5-7 with a 3.99 ERA, and we were outhit 12-4. Vargas walked twice, and Taylor had a hit, a walk and a run, but we’ve now lost five games in a row while being outscored 27-5, and all the good work we put in before the All Star break seems to be sliding away.

We’ll take our 44-62 record into our next series agianst the Phillies, who come to town with a 51-54 record and third place in the NL East. We’ll then start the month of August on the road, with trips to play Hosuton (49-57, 4th AL West) and Seattle (55-51, 2nd AL West) for three apiece.