Good morning!

"You come to me on the day of a torrential downpour."

That's probably not really what Roger Bossard—the White Sox's head groundskeeper, also known as Sodfather—said on Sunday on the south side.

But an umpire's stubbornness and a fast-moving storm of wind and hail left the Rate Field grounds crew with a field they couldn't use.

Assembling a makeshift mosaic of tarps, the crew pulled off a miracle to make the field operable to finish the game. The trick? Diamond-Dry — 4.5 tons of it.

– ​Patrick Norton​

Cubs bullpen implodes

Yikes! After a Kyle Tucker three-run bomb put the Cubs ahead by four in the top half of the 8^th inning, the Diamondbacks responded, scoring EIGHT runs to eventually win, 10-6.

• Starter Matthew Boyd, making his Cubs debut, tossed five innings of scoreless baseball before turning it over to the bullpen with a 3-0 lead. Nate Pearson allowed a run in the 6^th and another in the 7^th before Caleb Thielbar entered and escaped a bases-loaded jam.
  

• But with a shorthanded 'pen, Thielbar started the 8^th , walking the first two Arizona batters of the inning. That's just about when the floodgates opened and the wheels fell off for Thielbar's replacement, Eli Morgan. Morgan retired the first batter he faced before allowing four consecutive hits, including a game-tying home run.
  

• The bleeding didn't stop there, either. After the hit deluge, Morgan intentionally walked notorious Cub killer Eugenio Suárez to get to the pitcher's spot in the order (the Diamondbacks had opted to sub their DH into the field earlier in the game).
  
  Reliever Ryne Nelson stepped in for his first career at-bat and cracked an RBI single — the first hit from a pitcher since the DH was added to the NL in 2022.

Just brutal. Brutally inexcusable.

Some will blame Cubs manager Craig Counsell. They would be wrong to do that. It has nothing to do with when pitchers are being deployed into games, at least right now. At some point, the pitchers need to get outs.

Cubs relievers are striking out batters just 19.5% of the time while walking batters at a 16.1% rate. That's not good. In fact, that's downright awful. And it's directly reflected in the bullpen's 8.34 ERA in six games this season.

On Sunday, Pearson walked two, Thielbar walked three, and Morgan had the one intentional free pass. Six walks in 2.2 innings pitched.

Saturday was closer Ryan Pressly's chance to give fans agita, walking one while allowing four hits in the ninth inning. Chicago escaped with a win thanks to a stellar defensive play from Dansby Swanson, but Pressly's poor outing was still certainly noted.

Acquired from the Astros in late January, Pressly's $14 million salary is almost $10 million higher than any other reliever on the Cubs' payroll. However, Chicago is only paying $8.5 million while Houston picks up the rest of the tab.

Regardless, this is the bed that POBO Jed Hoyer has made for himself in a contract year. These ragtag, White Sox first-base-line-tarpestry bullpens have worked in the past...in stretches. I'm sure this group will click at some point and have the best bullpen ERA in baseball for three weeks — that's just how it works.

Unfortunately for Hoyer, it never lasts without an elite arm or two. That's why I'm a little stunned that this glaring weakness was only somewhat addressed and done without the full weight of whatever financial war chest was actually at the exec's disposal in the offseason.

Now, Chicago's backed into a corner just six games into the season with a likely need to acquire some back-end help in the very near future.

Maybe that help is free agent and former Cub David Robertson. Who knows what Robertson, 39, has left in the tank, but in 2024, the journeyman reliever posted a 3.00 ERA in 68 outings with the Rangers. Couldn't hurt to take a look...

GO DEEPER: ​Luke Stuckmeyer, Cody Delmendo and Kevin Wells broke down Sunday's breakdown in Arizona.​

Quick Hits

• Welcome to the show, Sam Rinzel and Oliver Moore! The pair of prospects signed their entry-level deals with the Blackhawks on Saturday before debuting against the Utah Hockey Club (get a real name) on Sunday afternoon. Both looked like they belonged, but Rinzel's skating was like watching an artist in their studio.
  
  Connor Murphy, 32, is the elder statesman of a defensive group whose average age at the blueline on Sunday was 22.7 years old. Youth isn't everything; they need to be good, too. But things might be looking up for the Blackhawks if they can nail the coaching hire in the offseason.
  

• Bears Mailbag will be in tomorrow's newsletter!

Today!

• 📺 CHGO Bears @ 12 on YouTube

• ⚾️ White Sox vs. Twins @ 1:10 on CHSN

• 📺 CHGO Blackhawks @ 2:30 on YouTube

• 📺 CHGO White Sox POSTGAME on YouTube

• 📺 CHGO Bulls @ 6 Live from Hooters!

• 🏀 Bulls @ Thunder @ 7 on CHSN

• 📺 CHGO Bulls POSTGAME on YouTube

• ⚾️ Cubs @ Athletics @ 9:05 on Marquee

• 📺 CHGO Cubs POSTGAME on ​CHGO Cubs YouTube​

Talk to you tomorrow!