Cubs’ bullpen implodes in 9-run 8th as 6-game winning streak ends

Cubs manager Joe Maddon has seen enough baseball to be able to spot an odd occurrence when he sees one.

Case in point, the eighth inning of the Cubs’ 11-4 loss to the Cardinals on Friday that snapped a six-game winning streak. In a span of 38 minutes, relievers Carl Edwards Jr., Hector Rondon and Justin Grimm allowed nine runs before recording an out. They threw 61 pitches, walked six and surrendered six hits.

“That was a weird, weird inning,” said Rondon, who was charged with four runs after he walked two and allowed two hits. “That’s the first time I’ve seen something like that — nine runs with no outs. It’s weird. But it is what it is.”

For all that had gone right during the Cubs’ 6-0 road trip coming out of the All-Star break, the bullpen implosion brought with it a stark reality check. After series sweeps of the Orioles and Braves — combined with a skid by the first-place Brewers — the Cubs had charged to within a game of the lead in the National League Central.

Even without third baseman Kris Bryant, who could miss the series with soreness in the finger he sprained on a headfirst slide Wednesday, the Cubs appeared headed for another victory.

They led 3-2 after Anthony Rizzo’s RBI single in the fifth. After Jake Arrieta allowed two runs and five hits and struck out six in six innings, Pedro Strop pitched out of trouble in the seventh.

Then came the eighth inning, in which the Cardinals sent 14 hitters to the plate.

Edwards Jr. (3-2) allowed a lead-off double to Matt Carpenter before yielding back-to-back walks to load the bases. Rondon entered and promptly walked in the tying run before Paul DeJong broke the tie with a two-run, ground-rule double.

After Rondon walked Kolten Wong, Randal Grichuk — who homered in the second — hit a broken-bat RBI single. Carson Kelly doubled home two runs, Carpenter singled in another and Tommy Pham singled in two more before Dexter Fowler hit into a double play.

“I’m saying straight up, we played good baseball today,” Maddon said. “We just pitched badly for one inning, and some really good pitchers had a tough time.”

The Cubs, who took a 2-0 lead on Willson Contreras’ two-run homer in the first, stranded nine men. They left the bases loaded in the sixth.

Maddon wrote off the eighth as an anomaly, but it marked the third time this month that Cubs pitchers allowed at least seven runs in an inning. The Pirates scored 10 in the first in the last game before the All-Star break, and the Brewers tallied seven in the third three days earlier.

The Cubs know that while they might be able to shrug off the eighth inning, they can’t let it lead to bigger slides if they hope to defend their World Series title.

“In our minds, it’s up for grabs,” Arrieta said. “It’s ours to take, and we look forward to the opportunity to do so.”

Follow me on Twitter @JeffArnold_.

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