Entering a 1-0 game with one on and two outs in the eighth, Kerry Wood walked three straight batters to tie up Thursday’s matinee between the Cubs and Nationals.
It wasn’t a case of Wood completely losing the strike zone, but he did keep just missing after getting to two strikes on both Adam LaRoche and Jayson Werth. Werth’s walk with the bases loaded proved to be the equalizer, denying Ryan Dempster a chance at a victory after a strong outing.
The Cubs have themselves pretty good rotation depth and a lineup without any huge holes, but the bullpen could be a disaster. Closer Carlos Marmol was a mess last year and he gave up seven runs in 8 1/3 innings this spring. Wood is bound to get hurt at some point. Right now, their other four relievers are James Russell, Rafael Dolis, Shawn Camp (who failed to make the Mariners this spring) and Lendy Castillo (a Rule 5 pick from the Phillies who has only been pitching for two years). It’s easy to envision them losing a lot of games late this year.
Update: Marmol ended up taking the loss in this one, though incredibly enough, no walks were involved. With two outs in the ninth, Marmol gave up a shot to right that David DeJesus got all turned around on, resulting in a double for Chad Tracy. Ian Desmond went on to single him in, giving the Nats a 2-1 lead they were able to hold on to (barely) in the bottom of the ninth.
