'Weird baseball stuff': Cubs lose after miscues spark Padres rally

SAN DIEGO -- Ian Happ knows he should have snagged the baseball that Padres designated hitter Gavin Sheets lifted high over shallow left field on Monday night. There should not have been a moment of confusion that led to an unlikely single.

“Should’ve been caught,” Happ said after the 10-4 loss at Petco Park.

Back on April 5 at Wrigley Field, Happ turned in an early entry for the Cubs’ catch of the year with a spectacular diving grab to rob Sheets of a potential extra-base hit. In the sixth inning in San Diego, the left fielder was positioned more toward the gap, creating a bit more distance between himself and this fly ball’s trajectory.

Happ hustled to his right, while shortstop Dansby Swanson and third baseman Matt Shaw also sprinted in pursuit of the ball Sheets sliced their way. Shaw pulled off, leaving Happ and Swanson as the last options. At the final moment, they each pulled up, allowing a ball with a 95% catch probability to hit the grass and giving the Padres the opening they needed.

“It’s a play where I’m looking for the other two guys,” Happ said. “And I should’ve put my head down and gone and got it. With a good team like that, you make a couple mistakes and they’re going to capitalize on it.”

It was a costly domino that helped swing a 3-1 lead for the Cubs into a lopsided loss that effectively erased Jameson Taillon’s solid start and Michael Busch’s third straight game with a home run. Per Statcast, the Cubs had a 79% win probability one batter into the sixth and the Padres had a 71% win probability just five batters later.

Playing clean baseball is part of this Chicago team’s brand. Entering the night, the Cubs ranked near the top in baseball defensive runs saved (7), outs above average (4) and Defensive Runs Above Average (4.8). Happ and Swanson, in particular, have five career Gold Glove Awards between them.

“We just missed an out there,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “And then [the Padres] got some fortunes on their side, some luck on their side. That hurt us there. And then from there on, we didn’t throw the ball great.”

Sheets’ fluky hit came after Manny Machado knocked Taillon out of the game with an 11-pitch walk that included six foul balls. The Cubs starter admitted feeling “grateful” to reach that point of the game, given that he was feeling under the weather and fatigued all evening.

Cubs reliever Brad Keller induced the fly ball from Sheets, issued a walk to Xander Bogaerts and then got Jose Iglesias to chop a pitch to the left side of the mound. Keller got a glove on the ball, but a run scored, the bases remained loaded and San Diego trimmed the Cubs’ lead to 3-2. Jason Heyward then hit a ball up the middle, where it caromed off the glove of a diving Swanson to pull the game into a tie.

“Some weird baseball stuff happened,” Taillon said. “And then from there it snowballed a bit. That can happen. That’s baseball. Move on and hope we can come back and get a series win the next two days.”

The Padres poured it on against relievers Nate Pearson and Eli Morgan across the seventh and eighth, scoring seven runs in that span. Morgan allowed back-to-back homers to Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez in the eighth and walked off the mound with an athletic trainer shortly thereafter.

Counsell noted after the game that Morgan was dealing with a right elbow issue that would require further evaluation into Tuesday. That likely means a trip to the injured list for Morgan and some roster maneuvering for the Cubs’ bullpen. It was just one more domino toppled in a tough night for the North Siders.

“We had a bad night tonight,” Counsell said. “That’s how I see it -- we just had a bad night tonight.”

Happ pointed out that the Cubs dropped the opening game against the Dodgers on Friday -- only to bounce back to win the next two for Chicago’s fourth series win in a row.

“We have a really competitive team,” Happ said. “We've played complete baseball for the most part. You’re going to have days like today, but it’s really impressive what we’ve done.”