Cubs lose to Rays, fall inches short of sweeping best team in baseball

The Cubs came within inches of sweeping the Rays in a redemptive three-game set. They claimed a series win but lost 4-3 on Wednesday.

“I thought they did a really nice job against a really good team,” manager David Ross said of his players. “[The Rays’] slug finally showed up, and that’s what beat us today. But well-pitched series for us, well-fought, hard-nosed baseball, good defense all over the place. Really proud of how we finished this homestand coming off what we did against Cincinnati.”

He was referring to the three losses the Cubs suffered at the hands of the Reds over the weekend, as Cincinnati jumped them in the division standings.

Then the Cubs took the first two games against the Rays, who own the best record in the majors.

On Wednesday, the Cubs battled back in the late innings and loaded the bases in the ninth. With two outs, catcher Yan Gomes stepped to the plate in his 1,000th career major-league game.

He got ahead in the count 3-0 and watched a fastball on the outer third of the plate and at the top of the zone. He started moving toward first base, but the pitch was called a strike. Then Gomes fought off a couple inside fastballs before turning on a third and hitting it on a line to left field.

“I thought he was going to walk us off there in his 1,000th game,” Ross said. “They were just playing in the right position.”

Left fielder Randy Arozarena sprinted into the corner to make the catch.

Slug showed up

The Cubs held the Rays to one run in the first two games of the series combined. First, right-hander Marcus Stroman limited them to one hit in a shutout. Then Kyle Hendricks surrendered just one run, and a bullpen trio of Julian Merryweather, Mark Leiter Jr. and Adbert Alzolay quieted their bats from there.

Ross went back to the same trio Wednesday, but Leiter uncharacteristically gave up two home runs. Leiter entered the game with a 1.61 ERA. He’d only surrendered earned runs in one of his last 13 outings. But he gave up a game-tying two-run homer to Brandon Lowe in the seventh and a go-ahead two-run shot to Jose Siri in the eighth.

When Merryweather issued three walks in the ninth, Michael Fulmer came in to get the last out and keep it a scoreless inning.

Next man up?

Cubs right-hander Hayden Wesneski made his first relief appearance of the season, replacing starter Justin Steele in the fourth inning after the left-hander exited with tightness in his forearm.

Wesneski tossed 3⅔ innings. The only run charged to him was Manuel Margot, whom he walked with two outs in the seventh before handing the ball over to Leiter.

Ross said pulling Steele was “precautionary.” But if Steele does have to miss any starts with the injury, Wesneski is already lined up on his start day. Right-hander Javier Assad is also stretched out enough for a starter’s workload, Ross pointed out.

“There’s a lot of moving parts there that we’ve got some coverage if we need to,” Ross said. “But I don’t think anybody’s sounding any alarms at the moment.”