One of the most memorable games in 2025 for the Cubs took place on April 18th at Wrigley Field on a Friday afternoon against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Full disclosure…I was not watching most of this game live. I was at my in-laws house on an unseasonable beautiful April day in Minnesota. That weather had already made it’s way to Chicago, where temperatures hit 77 degrees, the high mark for the whole month. As always with Wrigley, the warm spring weather brought the winds blowing out – 11 mph to center – always a recipe for higher scoring games.
And while I wasn’t sitting in front of my TV/computer at home watching, as with many family gatherings, I was sneaking a look at Gameday every 10 minutes or so, and watching for a minute or two when the Cubs had runners on base.
The Cubs were facing Corbin Burnes, the new Ace of the Diamondbacks, who many fans were hoping the Cubs would have signed. He had gotten a bit beaten up in his first 3 starts, with an ERA of 5.28 coming into the game. But he only gave up 2 runs over 6 innings on the windy day, on a home run to Carson Kelly in the 2nd inning. This would start a very nice stretch of 8 starts, before his season ended on June 1 when he suffered a torn ligament in his elbow. He is expected to return this season after the All-Star break.
While Burnes was having a good start, the Cubs had been even better. Colin Rea allowed only 1 run in 4.2 innings, and Caleb Thielbar, Brad Keller and Julian Merryweather combined for 2.1 solid innings of scoreless relief.
It was a low scoring, 2-1 game going into the bottom of the seventh, especially with the wind blowing out. But then things got crazy.
In the bottom of the seventh, a Hoerner Single, a PCA single and a walk to Carson Kelly loaded the bases. Vidal Brujan struck out, bringing Ian Happ to the plate.
The Cubs tacked on another run with a Tucker triple and clutch single by Michael Busch to make it 7-0. All of this was accomplished against Ryne Nelson, who happens to start on Saturday for the DBacks.
With a comfortable lead, I was only casually looking at my phone as the next inning progressed.
The Cubs bullpen early in 2025 was definitely a work in progress. Palencia wasn’t available after going 1.2 innings in middle relief the day before in San Diego (a series he had just been called up for). No Pomeranz, Flexen or Brasier, and we were months away from Kittredge and Rogers. After using up Thielbar and Keller, the guys left in the bullpen were Ethan Roberts, Luke Little, Jordan Wicks, Porter Hodge and Ryan Pressly, the closer. None of those 5 would make the postseason roster.
But with a 7-run lead, it did not seem to matter. They just needed 6 more outs.
Craig Counsell decided to go with Jordan Wicks, a guys who really seemed like he would be a solid back of the rotation starter after the 2023 season. To his credit, he was throwing strikes with a big lead, but he allowed singles to Grichuk, Naylor and Gurriel Jr. to start the innings.
With Cub-killer Eugenio Suarez coming up, Counsell went with Porter Hodge, the Cubs closer in the back half of 2024.
OK…no need to panic. The Cubs still had a 7-5 lead, and still had an 87% chance of winning. Hodge got a lineout from Moreno, but then walked McCarthy and allowed a single to Alec Thomas. After a wild pitch to put runners on 2nd and 3rd, he managed to strikeout Corbin Carroll, and it looked like the Cubs might get out of the inning with no more damage. But then Perdomo got an infield single to score 1 run to make it 7-6 (win percentage down to 75%).
Randal Grichuk then doubled in 2 more to make the score 8-7 DBacks. The lead was gone, the win percentage was down to 25%, and the crowd was deflated. I nearly threw my phone from disgust.
And still, Counsell decided to stick with Hodge. But after a walk to Naylor, Ethan Roberts was brought in.
It’s been an interesting journey for Porter Hodge. After the 2023 season, he was somewhat surprisingly added to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. He had shown some promise. Here’s an article from Northside Baseball about the move: https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/cubs-add-arias-horn-and-hodge-to-40-man-roster-r445/
But Hodge turned out to be excellent in 2024, with a 1.88 ERA, 0.884 WHIP and 9 saves. 2025 was not as good, as I detailed in a couple of posts:
Hodge was definitely going through some injury issues, and perhaps they were an indicator of the elbow problem that would surface this season, requiring Tommy John surgery, and putting him out of commission until sometime in 2027. It would be really nice to see him bounce back to that 2024 form when he returns, but at this point, it seems like a long shot.
So back to the game against the Diamondbacks. The Cubs were trailing 8-7, and two runners were on base. But turning around a 1-run deficit with the wind blowing out seemed very possible, and they only needed 1 out to get out of the inning.
But the Cubs did not get that out.
The Gurriel Jr. 3-run home run made it 11-7, the win percentage was down to a measly 4%, and the Diamondbacks had hit double-digit runs for the inning with 10. Grichek, Naylor and Gurriel had each scored twice in the same inning.
Roberts was able to get Suarez to line out to mercifully end the inning. But it was meltdown of epic proportions, and with the Cubs only 3 games above .500 when the day started, and after losing 2 of 3 to the Padres, such a collapse could be very bad for morale.
I was only half watching my phone by that point, as Hoerner was hit by a pitch from Bryce Jarvis to lead of the bottom of the 8th. And the PCA was able to draw a walk. Giving up free base runners when you have a lead late in a game is one of my pet peeves as a baseball fan when Cubs relievers do it, so I’m guessing the Diamondback fans must have been livid. But there mood would not improve after Carson Kelly came up.
The Cubs were back within a run and the win percentage was back up to 29%.
Jarvis struck out Justin Turner for the first out, and the Diamondbacks decided to bring in a left-handed pitcher to turn around Ian Happ to hit from the right side, and face Kyle Tucker, who was on deck.
The best laid plans of Torey Lovullo, the DBacks manager, did not come to fruition. I was back to watching the game on my phone when this happened:
Tucker’s 2-run blast gave the Cubs back the lead at 12-11, and brought eh win percentage back up to 86%.
This was back when we used to like Kyle Tucker. I suppose I can understand the animosity that is currently being displayed. His stoic attitude, the weird circumstances around his injuries in 2025, and the post-season ineptitude paved the way. But going to an already stacked Dodgers team solidified the anger. The Rick Sutcliffe rant about Bregman versus Tucker felt a bit like sour grapes, but there might be some truth there.
But especially after allowing 10 runs in the 8th, and with a shaky Ryan Pressly set to pitch the 9th, things were still precarious. But Seiya Suzuki decided to provide some insurance:
Ryan Pressly got 2 quick outs in the top of the 9th, before a double by Alex Thomas brought the tying run to the plate. Pressly had allowed at least 1 baserunner in 8 of his first 10 appearances. He would eventually be pulled from the closer role after a one-man meltdown in extra innings on May 6th against the Giants, where he allowed 9 runs (8 earned – as the designated runner is always considered unearned), 5 hits, one walk and one HBP. Pressly hung around until the trade deadline, when he was released to make room for the newly acquired bullpen arms.
But on this day, there was no second meltdown, and Pressly got Corbin Carroll to pop out to Danby Swanson to end the game.
Here are full highlights and the full game video:
Will today’s game be as eventful? Highly doubtful, but we will see.
Cubs in 7 
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