Ninth inning rally helps Cubs earn series split

Key hits by Tommy La Stella and Jon Jay helped the Cubs avoid a three-game losing steak

Mark A. Brown via Getty Images

With the Nationals bullpen, the game is never really over. Teams have been finding this out all year and on Thursday, the Cubs were able to muster up three runs in the 9th inning to win a dramatic 5–4 game in Washington. The win puts the Cubs at 40–39 on the season and Chicago was able to salvage a split in this four game series. This was Washington’s 13th blown save of the year and we haven’t even hit July yet.

Just like game one of this series, this one featured a low scoring pitchers duel between Jon Lester of the Cubs and Joe Ross of the Nationals.

Jon Lester: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 90 pitches

Joe Ross: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 96 pitches

The Cubs got on the board first when Willson Contreras ripped a single to left field and scored Anthony Rizzo in the 1st inning. The Nats tied the game in the bottom of the inning as Ryan Zimmerman delivered a double off of Lester that plated Bryce Harper.

Lester was able to get out of a few jams later in the game including the 4th when Washington had runners on first and third with no outs. The Cubs finally broke the 1–1 tie in the top of the 7th inning when Jeimer Candelario drilled a solo home run, his first as a Cub.

Mitchell Layton via Getty Images

The lead didn’t last for long as Washington jumped in front 3–2 thanks to Anthony Rendon’s two-run home run off of Carl Edwards Jr. Edwards only managed one out and struggled to find the strike zone when he was in the game. The Nats added one more run in the 7th when Brian Goodwin hit a grounder up the middle to score Michael Taylor making it a 4–2 Nats lead.

Blake Treinen came on to pitch the 9th inning for Washington to try and give the Nationals their third straight win over the defending World Series champs. With a runner on second and two outs, Javier Baez singled to right field making it runners on the corners. Tommy La Stella was next in line as he hit a line drive just over the outstretched arms of shortstop Stephen Drew to make it 4–3 with runners still on the corners and two outs.

It came down to Jon Jay who was already 0 for 4 on the game. Jay delivered with a two-RBI double in the right-center field gap and just like that the Cubs were ahead 5–4. Wade Davis came on for the Cubs in the bottom of the 9th and worked a very easy 1–2–3 inning to seal the deal and give the Cubs a game they didn’t really deserve.

After splitting both the Miami series and this Washington series, the Cubs are 4–4 thus far on the 11 game road trip. The final series of this trip features a weekend series against the Cincinnati Reds. Friday’s game will start at 7:10 ET with Mike Montgomery (2.50 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 1.231 WHIP) on the hill for the Cubs while Scott Feldman (4.07 ERA, 4.30 FIP, 1.324 WHIP) gets the nod for the Reds.

Nick Konotopskyj is a recent graduate of St. Bonaventure University in Western New York. As a fan of the Cubs, Bills, Sabres and Knicks, winning seasons have been hard to come by let alone title contending teams. Finally, the Cubs were able to lift the curse last fall. You can follow him on Twitter @Nick_Kono11