Chicago had this one wrapped up. Then it didn’t.
The Cubs were up five runs on Saturday afternoon against Toronto. Pete Crow-Armstrong went deep again. Everything was clicking. And then the bullpen turned a comfortable win into an 8-6 loss that left everyone in the clubhouse searching for answers.
Jacob Webb took the mound in the seventh with a 5-3 lead. He couldn’t hold it. Three runs crossed in the seventh. Five more in the eighth. The Blue Jays walked away with the win and Webb walked away with a blown save and a lot of frustration.
The 32-year-old reliever didn’t sugarcoat it afterward.
“I didn’t fu**ing execute today, plain and simple,” Webb told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. “The last few outings, I’ve made mistake after mistake and it’s pretty fu**ing frustrating. I’m not gonna lie.”
That’s about as honest as it gets. No spin. No coachspeak. Just a guy who knows he let his team down.
A bullpen in trouble
This isn’t just a one-game problem. With closer Daniel Palencia sidelined by injury, the Cubs are scrambling to find reliable arms in the late innings. Webb was supposed to be part of the solution. He came to Chicago this season after solid stints with Texas and Baltimore. The track record is there. But consistency has been hard to find.
Webb now carries a 3.90 ERA over 33 appearances. He’s shown flashes of the guy who pitched well in big moments for the Rangers and Orioles. But the flashes are getting rarer, and the blown leads are piling up.
Chicago falls to 40-37 with the loss. That puts them third in the NL Central. Not a disaster. Not good either.
What’s next
The Cubs get another shot at Toronto on Sunday at Wrigley Field. First pitch is set for 2:20 PM EST. They’ll need a starter to go deep and some bullpen guys to step up. Or at minimum, they’ll need Webb and the rest of the relief corps to flush this one fast.
Because in a division where nobody’s running away with anything, every blown lead hurts a little more.
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