Cubs 7, Padres 4: Thank god for the All-Star break

The Padres didn’t win today, but their fans did. That’s because they get four blissful days without watching this wreck of a baseball team. The Friars committed three errors today, making an extremely bad start from Eric Lauer even worse. The rookie with bad burrito opinions got chased after getting rocked for five runs in two innings. The only bright spots were Christian Villanueva and Hunter Renfroe, who each had solo shots this afternoon.

Lauer got roughed up pretty bad right away. Anthony Rizzo led off with a single and Kris Bryant got a free pass to first before Jason Heyward lined out. And then the Cubs had two more singles and two runs before Lauer retired another batter. That second out came from Ben Zobrist in the form of an RBI ground out. Willson Contreras mercifully struck out to end the inning.

The second inning was ugly, too. Lauer beaned David Bote, and eventually scored on Rizzo’s double. Heyward brought Rizzo home with a single, and the Pads were down five nothing before you could blink.

Bote scored again in the fourth. Matt Strahm put him on base the less painful way. He stole second while Rizzo was at the plate, and then took third when Austin Hedges botched the throw. A sacrifice fly brought him home, though he could have scored from second on the next play. That’s because Hedges took a slow roller from Bryant and threw the ball right past first, sending him to second easily. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Renfroe screwed up when he threw back in, giving Bryant third base at no extra charge. He was, thankfully, stranded there.

The Pads answered back when Villanueva went yard in the bottom of the frame. Woo.

The Cubs got a freebie in the sixth thanks to Adam Cimber. With runners on second and third and one out, Rizzo got an intentional walk to load the bases and set up a double play. Which was a great idea, except for the part where Cimber nailed Bryant for a Run Beaned In. Cimber fanned the next two batters, but he was a little late on the competence.

Chicago pitching wasn’t so great with the bases loaded, either. After Renfroe started the bottom of the sixth with a strikeout, the next three Friars reached base safely to load ‘em up. Freddy Galvis took one for the team and Carlos Asuaje drew a walk to score a couple of runs, but the Pads couldn’t actually get a hit to do some serious damage. Renfroe’s bomb in the seventh was the last run of the day, and it left the Friars woefully behind the Cubs.

No more Padres baseball until Friday, so you have most of the week to remember what, uh, not losing feels like.