For six innings Monday, it appeared the Chicago Cubs would cruise to an easy win over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. The Cubs jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the fourth inning and Javier Assad carved up the Padres through five shutout innings. Sometimes it’s just not your night, and it appeared Monday was not San Diego’s night.
The game requires you to get 27 outs, however, and Assad and the Cubs bullpen could not make what was an 8-0 lead as late as the sixth inning stand up. The Padres put seven runs on the board in the sixth — they had four hits on consecutive four pitches at one point — and then Fernando Tatis Jr. gave San Diego a 9-8 lead with a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth. The Padres held on to win by the same score (box score).
To the action footage:
Assad allowed a two-run home run to Jake Cronenworth in the sixth inning to end his outing. He gave way to a bullpen that surrendered seven runs and eight baserunners in three innings. New Cubs manager Craig Counsell asked closer Adbert Alzolay to get a five-out save in a game his team once led 8-0, and Alzolay allowed the homer to Tatis.
According to FanGraphs, the Cubs had a 99.2% chance to win the game at the start of the sixth inning. This was a 1 in 125 comeback. The eight-run comeback ties the largest in Padres franchise history. It has been done on three other occasions:
- May 23, 1970 vs. San Francisco Giants
- June 10, 1974 vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
- July 8, 2021 vs. Washington Nationals
The Cubs, meanwhile, last blew an eight-run lead on June 29, 2002. They had an 8-0 lead after three innings against the Chicago White Sox and then lost the game 13-9. Paul Konerko went 4 for 4 with a double and two home runs in that game for the ChiSox.
The comeback win moved the Padres to within a game of .500 at 6-7. The Cubs fell to 6-4 with the loss. They’ll play the second game of this three-game series Tuesday night.
