Through four innings of Monday's Cubs-Padres game, the North Side appeared to have their first game of a three-game series in San Diego secured for a win.
The bats of Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger Christopher Morel and Dansby Swanson lifted the Cubs to an eight-run lead after four innings. What's more, Javier Assad backed up their offense with some spectacular pitching; he pitched five innings, allowing two earned runs while striking out seven.
But that's where this game took a turn for the worse.
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The Cubs' bullpen dropped the game upon Assad's departure. Jose Cuas --- the main wrongdoer in this one --- allowed four runs (two earned) in just 0.1 innings and 13 pitches.
After Cuas, Luke Little gave up a two-run home run to Xander Bogaerts, cutting the Cubs' lead to one. Then, in the eighth inning, Fernando Tatis Jr. blasted a two-run home run off of Adbert Alzolay to give the Padres a one-run lead, and eventually the win.
A defensive mishap from Swanson and Mike Tauchman gave Cuas some solace in his horrendous appearance. But still, it was a treacherous outing that steamrolled into a complete disaster from the pen.
Leading up to Monday night's loss, the Cubs had won 43 straight games when leading by eight or more runs, according to Marquee Sports' Christopher Kamka. Last season, the Cubs finished 32-0 when scoring at least eight runs.
Cubs News
In the past two seasons, the Cubs' bullpen has finished 13th and 17th in ERA, respectively. Bullpens are critical, and the Cubs have struggled to assemble anything formidable since they revamped their roster.
The Cubs are now 6-4 through 10 games this season, which slots fourth place in the NL Central. They're just 2.5 games off the division-leading Pittsburgh Pirates. They have two more games in San Diego, where they hope to recover from their crushing loss on Monday, which went down in the wrong history books.