LONDON — Trey Mancini’s face was full of remorse as he addressed the costly error he committed at first base in the Cubs’ 7-5 loss Sunday.
“It’s not the first instance lately where I’ve sped up plays that don’t really need to be sped up,” he said. “Let the game speed me up there, and the game’s 100% on me. I’m sorry to my teammates and all the fans because it’s been such a great trip here, and it would have been nice to get two wins. And I really feel very responsible for our loss today, and there’s no worse feeling than that.”
The Cubs had a four-run lead with two outs in the second inning, but the Cardinals loaded the bases. Marcus Stroman induced Tommy Edman to chop a grounder to the right side of the infield.
Mancini chased after it, not realizing it was an easy play for second baseman Nico Hoerner until it was too late. Mancini and Stroman dashed toward the base. Mancini beat Stroman there, spinning to get in position before trying, and failing, to barehand Hoerner’s flip.
Stroman picked up the dropped ball, shouted in frustration and slapped his glove.
“It changes the momentum of the game,” Mancini said. “I was mad, he was mad. I think everybody was. So I would have reacted the same way.”
They talked soon after, and Mancini apologized to Stroman.
Stroman acknowledged he might have been upset in the moment but said he soon moved past it.
“That’s baseball man,” he said. “Mancini has been great for us all year. . . . [The defense has] bailed me out so many times, I can’t get mad at anyone for that situation ever.”
On the offensive side, Mancini provided a boost in his only at-bat, hitting a two-run double in the Cubs’ four-run first inning.
“The double doesn’t matter at all after that,” Mancini said.
Bullpen support
Left-hander Brandon Hughes had never heard of a distal femoral osteotomy, the surgery he’s having next week, until veteran right-hander Michael Fulmer mentioned his 2019 knee surgery in spring training.
The operation corrects the alignment of the knee — in Hughes’ case, shifting the pressure to the part of the joint that hasn’t worn down to bone-on-bone.
“I started talking to him about my knee and what I was feeling,” said Hughes, who has been battling recurring swelling this season, stemming from an old meniscus injury. “He said it sounded eerily similar to what he was going through . . . years ago.”
Fulmer thinks his right knee issues, which hindered his ability to push off his back leg, led to his elbow injury. Fulmer had Tommy John surgery in March 2019 and added the knee operation soon after, when he was already sidelined.
“It completely saved my career,” he said.
Uniform patches
The Cubs have yet to join the ranks of MLB teams with jersey-patch sponsors, but they tried a temporary partnership this weekend. The jerseys for the London Series included an Advocate Health Care patch on the left sleeve. The team hopes the temporary patch will build greater interest in the asset.
