Chicago Cubs: 3 takeaways from San Diego Padres series
By Ryan Sikes
Craig Kimbrel locked down 2 saves for the Chicago Cubs in the series victory over the San Diego Padres, who won seven of nine on the home stand.
The Chicago Cubs came firing on all cylinders out of the All-Star Break and were winners of their last 7-of-9 on the homestand. As of Sunday evening, the Cubs have a 2.0 game lead over the surging Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central division. At the break, they had just a 0.5 game lead so any extension of that is a blessing.
The Brewers aren’t going to go away quietly and the Cubs should also be aware of the St. Louis Cardinals who have won their last 7-of-10. It was so important for the Cubs to get off to a good start in the second half after an underperforming first half.
They made quick work of the Pittsburgh Pirates, taking all three games of that series and finally took a series from the Cincinnati Reds this season. To end the home stand, the Cubs had to face an upstart San Diego Padres team with a lot of young talent. Highlighted by the free agent signing of Manny Machado in the offseason, the Padres already had Fernando Tatis Jr., Franmil Reyes, Hunter Renfroe, and Eric Hosmer.
They are a few good starting pitchers from being a very competitive team in the National League. I said going into this that they had take at least 2-of-3 in this series and that’s exactly what they did. Matching 6-5 scores on Friday and Saturday, the Cubs took the first two games but looked flat against Adrian Morejon, who was making his major league debut, and struggled against Cal Quantrill as well.
Scoring 1 run wasn’t going to cut it as the Padres added on late and took the series finale 5-1. Let’s look at a few takeaways from this series as the Cubs head out on a 9 game road trip against the Giants, Brewers, and Cardinals starting Monday night.