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This was terrible day for the Cubs’ playoff push, right until the final half-inning.
Before the game, the Cubs announced all-star pitcher Marcus Stroman was diagnosed with a right rib cartilage fracture and is out indefinitely. Then their hitters were shut down by White Sox starter Mike Clevinger, who threw 7 scoreless innings.
When Clevinger left the mound, the outlook began to shift. First, former White Sox first-round pick Nick Madrigal, who didn’t start either game, got the Cubs on the board with an eighth-inning home run off Aaron Bummer.
Then Christopher Morel lined a dramatic 3-run homer to right-center field against closer Gregory Santos to give the Cubs an very improbable 4-3 walk off victory.
“That’s a moment I can’t even translate into English, but I’m definitely very, very happy, very excited,” Morel said with help from a translator. “I want to thank God, I want to thank my teammates for never giving up. I want to thank the fans as well. It was a great moment.
“Willson (Contreras) once told me in those moments, try to stay in the eye of the hurricane and just think about what I’m doing in that moment and focus on myself.”
Needless to say, Morel was hyped up rounding the bases. He pumped his arm, threw his helmet, then ripped off his shirt before reaching home plate. He started the at-bat by falling behind 0-2, then waited on an outside pitch and hit a 1-2 sinker on a line.
“I got excited too. I was high-fiving (bench coach) Andy (Green),” manager David Ross said. “What a great swing, great environment, Christopher Morel, he’s so electric. That ball was smoked. Crazy, crazy swing.”
Cody Bellinger started the ninth with a double, then Dansby Swanson walked, setting the stage for Morel. Another unsung Cubs hero was reliever Michael Fulmer, who came in and struck out the side in the eighth after Jose Cuas loaded the bases with nobody out.
It’s tough to say how much Stroman’s injury will hurt the Cubs for the stretch run, because no one knows how long he’ll be out or how the injury even happened.
“Just got to wait and see how long and how much pain he’s actually in,” manager David Ross said. “We’re going to have to rely on him being symptom-free. So how long that takes, nobody really knows. It’s kind of just up in the air.”
Stroman last pitched on July 31 against Cincinnati, then went on the injured list with right hip inflammation. He received a cortisone shot and appeared to be on track to return Wednesday against the White Sox. But after throwing a bullpen session in Toronto on Sunday, he began feeling pain in his ribs.
“All the bullpens had been going well,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “We found out on Sunday he was having some issues. We didn’t know if it was muscular, we didn’t know if was skeletal, we didn’t know if it was indigestion. We didn’t know what it was, we just had no idea at that point.”
One solution was already obvious. Assad will stay in the rotation indefinitely. Ross said he’s leaning heavily toward using Drew Smyly for the other open spot, with Hayden Wesneski another option. The Cubs will start Jameson Taillon, Justin Steele and Kyle Hendricks this weekend against Kansas City.
Smyly pitched the ninth inning against the White Sox, his second relief appearance since his last start on Aug. 7. The Cubs are hoping the rest will do him some good, since his ERA in the last eight starts is 9.00.
“Last year, starting right around this time of year, he really took off and hopefully he can do that again,” Hoyer said of Smyly.
Assad coasted through the first 3 innings. Then after the Sox scored an unearned run in the fourth, he gave up a walk and 2-run homer to Gavin Sheets in the fifth to make it 3-0.
The Cubs put the first two runners on base in the first and fourth innings, but couldn’t do any damage as Clevinger forced weak contact all night.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports
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