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Cubs hitter Michael Bush wobbled in the batter’s box, a big swing on a back-foot slider throwing him off balance. Then Padres right-hander Dylan Cease came at him with a pitch up and outside. Busch stopped his swing early, but the slider ducked into the strike zone for a called strike three.
In the Cubs’ 3-0 loss to the Padres, that’s how Cease’s outing ended. And Busch wasn’t his only strikeout victim – not by a long shot. The Cubs offense looked lifeless against Cease, striking out 12 times as he hurled seven shutout innings.