Chicago Cubs: Counsell takes heat after feeble Wild Card Game Two loss, makes plans for Game Three

The Chicago Cubs looked like the worst version of themselves on Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley Field, just 24 hours after looking really solid.

With their 3-0 loss to the San Diego Padres, the best-of-three Wild Card Series now stands at an even 1-1 with Thursday’s game left to determine whether 2025 was an excellent year or a whole lot of false hope ending with an anticlimactic fizzle.

The Cubs just never got off the ground on Wednesday. Their offense was stymied by starter Dylan Cease and fully nullified by relievers Adrian Morejon, Mason Miller, and Robert Suarez. And while their pitching was mostly solid, it also faltered at key times in a game where there was zero margin for error.

Craig Counsell on the hot seat

For all the accolades that Cubs manager Craig Counsell rightfully received for his handling of the pitching staff on Tuesday, there will be just as many criticisms lobbed his way for his decisions in Wednesday’s game.

Right off the bat, Counsell’s decision to start righty reliever Andrew Kittredge backfired when the veteran gave up back-to-back singles to Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez to start the game, something which would result in the Padres getting the only run they needed to win.

Shota Imanaga, who took the mound in the second inning, pitched two solid innings and a somewhat shaky third, before the wheels fell off the cart a bit in the fifth inning, something which is being at least partially blamed on Counsell.

With one out in the fifth, Imanaga walked Tatis, who mas moved over to second by Arraez on a sacrifice bunt. With an open base at first and righty Michael Soroka warmed up in the bullpen, Counsell faced the decision of either walking the right-handed Manny Machado to face the left-handed Jackson Merrill or pulling the southpaw Imanaga in favor of a righty vs. righty Soroka-Machado matchup.

Counsell did neither and the end result was Machado smacking Imanaga’s first pitch into the left field bleachers to put the Padres up 3-0.

Facing fierce criticism

The Counsell non-decision generated an instant wave of criticism among fans and media.

“I cannot believe they let Shota Imanaga face Manny Machado with first base open. But they did,” tweeted Padres beat reporter AJ Cassavell. “And Machado made the Cubs pay on Imanaga’s first pitch. It’s a two-run homer, and the Padres lead 3-0.”

“Still don’t get it,” Cassavell continued. “Like, the whole point of using an opener in the first place was basically to avoid Machado-Imanaga, right? Welp, them’s the breaks, and the Padres sure capitalized.”

The Chicago Cubs had one of those days

The only real positive to be found after Wednesday’s game was that Mason Miller, who has looked absolutely dominant in the first two games of the series and set a postseason velocity record with his 104.5 mph strikeout pitch to Carson Kelly, will probably not see action for a third straight game.

And that is really scraping the bottom of the barrel in looking for any sort of silver lining in this game two dark cloud. It was just one of those days.

After the game, the Cubs announced that veteran Jameson Taillon would get the start on Thursday, which really wasn’t much of surprise. In his final six starts of the season, after coming back from his second stint on the IL, Taillon registered a 1.59 ERA and looked at his absolute very best.

He’ll need that positive mojo heading into this all-important must-win game three.

On Thursday, the bats need to return and every pitcher must be ready to dive in and contribute or the season is over.

Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-counsell-heat-loss-imanaga