{"id":97171,"date":"2026-06-21T00:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T00:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/97171\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T00:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T00:32:09","slug":"chicago-cubs-bullpen-blows-lead-in-8-6-loss-to-toronto-blue-jays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/97171\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs: Bullpen blows lead in 8-6 loss to Toronto Blue Jays"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Cubs found out Saturday morning that their closer, Daniel Palencia, has a mild flexor strain in his right arm and won\u2019t throw for more than a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at through the road trip, and then we\u2019ll start ramping it up a little bit,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said before the Cubs played the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday at Wrigley Field.<\/p>\n

A few hours later, they felt firsthand just how much they missed that lockdown option late in games.<\/p>\n

The Cubs bullpen blew a five-run lead, surrendering eight runs in the seventh and eighth innings in an 8-6 loss to the Blue Jays. Three pitchers \u2014 Trent Thornton, Caleb Thielbar and Jacob Webb \u2014 combined to allow the eight runs in 1 2\/3 innings of work.<\/p>\n

Photos: Toronto Blue Jays 8, Chicago Cubs 6<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have a good day in the bullpen,\u201d Counsell said. \u201c(Starter) Colin (Rea) pitched great, definitely put us in a position to win. When you have three guys kind of have bad days, then we gave up a lot of runs because of it. We just didn\u2019t get it done in the bullpen today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palencia, who was placed on the IL on Tuesday<\/a> with right elbow inflammation, is the latest in a string of injuries that have decimated not just the bullpen but caused a ripple effect on the entire Cubs pitching staff.<\/p>\n

Half of the opening-day bullpen is no longer in the reliever mix in late June.<\/p>\n

Rea and Ben Brown are in the rotation, and Hunter Harvey (right triceps inflammation) and Palencia are on the injured list. Phil Maton, who was signed to a two-year deal in the offseason, has a 5.92 ERA, didn\u2019t pitch in Saturday\u2019s loss and hasn\u2019t been used by Counsell as a leverage option lately as he works through his struggles.<\/p>\n

Names such as Thornton, Ryan Rolison and Webb had stepped up earlier in the year. That made Counsell feel comfortable turning it over to the bullpen with a three-run lead and 11 outs to cover. Rea had retired the first 12 hitters he faced, but with a pair of runners on and one out in the sixth inning, the Cubs manager brought in the left-hander Rolison to face left-handed hitter Nathan Lukes. Rolison needed just one pitch to induce an inning-ending double play.<\/p>\n

For Counsell, the game was scripted for Thornton, Thielbar and Webb to pick up the final nine outs.<\/p>\n

\"CubsCubs manager Craig Counsell, left, heads to the mound to take out pitcher Caleb Thielbar, right, in the eighth inning against the Blue Jays at Wrigley Field on June 20, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to try to get in that same spot tomorrow,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s a 5-0 lead in the sixth or a 5-3 lead in the eighth, every time you got to try to get to that spot again. Just didn\u2019t get it done today.\u201d<\/p>\n

It highlighted the struggles the Cubs relief corps has had this month. The bullpen carries a 4.94 ERA in June, has blown the second-most saves (five) and has pitched the sixth-most innings (71).<\/p>\n

The league has adjusted to some of these names that had success earlier in the season, and Webb might be a prime example. The right-hander had a 0.64 ERA in 12 games (14 innings) with 19 strikeouts to three walks in May. Webb has an 8.22 ERA in 7 2\/3 innings across eight games in June and has allowed an earned run in three straight outings.<\/p>\n

Saturday, he allowed three earned runs, plus two inherited runners from Caleb Thielbar in the five-run eighth inning. The knockout punch was a three-run home run from Kazuma Okamoto that turned a tie game into an 8-5 deficit.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe ball bounces off the bleachers for a three-run home run hit by Blue Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto in the eighth inning against the Cubs on June 20, 2026, at Wrigley Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t (expletive) execute today, period. Plain and simple,\u201d Webb said. \u201cComing into stop the game right there. It\u2019s not anything else other than that, literally. I mean, the last few outings I\u2019ve just made mistake after mistake, truly, and it\u2019s pretty (expletive) frustrating, I\u2019m not going to lie.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, back to the drawing board, figure some stuff out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Palencia news was encouraging when considering the MRI didn\u2019t reveal a major elbow injury, and left-hander Matthew Boyd was scheduled to throw a rehab outing with High A South Bend on Saturday. There\u2019s still plenty of urgency for the Cubs to figure out their pitching woes, especially with the offense finding some of its groove.<\/p>\n

Pete Crow-Armstrong hit his 16th home run of the season, a two-run shot to right field in the sixth inning, and extended his on-base streak to 23 games. Matt Shaw hit a three-run home run in the second and is hitting .292 with a .954 OPS since coming off the injured list.<\/p>\n

All of that was for naught after the bullpen woes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, every outing I have, I\u2019m trying to go out there and do my best,\u201d Webb said. \u201cNot always does it work that way. But I think we\u2019d like Danny back as soon as possible, but for right now, we have to play without him until we can get him back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trade<\/p>\n

The Cubs on Saturday acquired right-handed reliever Jayden Murray from the Houston Astros for minor-league first baseman Cameron Sisneros. Left-hander Luis Peralta was designated for assignment.<\/p>\n

Murray, 29, has a 7.43 ERA in eight outings (13 1\/3 innings) this season after making his major-league debut in 2025, pitching in nine September games.<\/p>\n

Andy Martinez is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Cubs found out Saturday morning that their closer, Daniel Palencia, has a mild flexor strain in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[35807,35805,9814,35802,35803,35801,35808,35806,35424,35810,35425,35809,48,1017,35804],"class_list":["post-97171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ben-brown","tag-caleb-thielbar","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-colin-rea","tag-craig-counsell","tag-daniel-palencia","tag-hunter-harvey","tag-jacob-webb","tag-matt-shaw","tag-matthew-boyd","tag-pete-crow-armstrong","tag-ryan-rolison","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-blue-jays","tag-trent-thornton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}