Mills makes circus snag, but not history

CHICAGO -- Alec Mills finished his follow-through and then reached back with his glove. The sharp grounder off Marwin Gonzalez's bat skipped up the mound, between the Cubs pitcher's legs and landed in the leather.

Mills capitalized on the look-what-I-found grounder, turning around to start a double play in the fifth inning against the Twins on Saturday night. It was an improbable snag in a stretch full of improbable moments for the Cubs, but luck was not on Chicago's side when the dust settled on an 8-1 loss at Wrigley Field.

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"I honestly didn't even really know I caught it," said Mills, who noted that the ball hit one of his spikes before finding the glove. "I kind of turned towards first and then realized I had the ball to throw it to second.

"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good."

And over the past week, the Cubs have been good, with good fortune threaded throughout a five-game winning streak that came to a halt against the Twins. It was the kind of stretch that provided a morale boost for the National League Central-leading Cubs (31-21), who remain on a trajectory for a division crown with eight games left on the schedule.

Think back to last Saturday in Milwaukee, when the Cubs carried a 17-inning scoring drought into the ninth inning against Brewers closer Josh Hader. Jason Heyward erased that frustrating spiral with a go-ahead homer that stirred an unexpected comeback win.

Then, Mills spun the 16th no-hitter in Cubs' history in the finale against the Brewers. Chicago followed that historic day with back-to-back walk-off wins against Cleveland, and then they picked up a 1-0 victory on Friday night courtesy of a brilliant performance by righty Kyle Hendricks.

"It's very important to be able to win those close ballgames," Heyward said. "Very important to find a way to win ugly."

So, no, Saturday night did not go according to plan. This was not a case of winning ugly, but losing ugly.

The Nos. 1-5 hitters in the Cubs’ lineup -- a group that has labored to find its footing all season -- went a combined 0-for-19. A group of relievers combined to allow four runs, excluding one tacked on Mills' pitching line following his departure in a five-run seventh.

The past week did, however, did make the loss easier to swallow.

"We're doing a lot of things right right now. We got on a roll there," Mills said. "It just makes it easier to kind of shake off tonight and come back out tomorrow and be ready to play a baseball game."

In his no-hitter encore, Mills was solid enough for six-plus frames, but the magic had run out. His 17-inning scoreless streak ended three batters into the evening, when Eddie Rosario erased any bid for a repeat of history by drilling a two-out, no-doubt homer to right.

Mills ended with seven strikeouts, one walk and four runs surrendered via six hits.

"I thought he was pitching really well," Cubs manager David Ross said. "He was moving the ball around, mixing in all his stuff. I thought he was throwing the ball really good. Looked good from the side. Looked as good as Milwaukee."

As good as Milwaukee?

"Baseball's funny," Mills said. "I actually think today's stuff was probably better than I had last time, to be honest with you. You may think I'm crazy for saying that."

Mills flinched again in the sixth, when Rosario delivered a go-ahead, RBI single before being picked off first by the pitcher to halt the inning. One frame later, the Twins' potent lineup produced a five-run flurry, which began with a Miguel Sanó blast off Mills that soared a projected 453 feet and landed on Waveland Avenue.

"I made a couple mistakes, and they made it hurt," Mills said. "That's why the Twins are a good baseball team. That's what they do."

If the Cubs want their path to end with another World Series triumph, that is what they will have to keep doing, too.

Chicago will have to be good, and maybe a little bit lucky.

"At the end of the day, when you do win a ring," Heyward said, "no one goes back and says, 'Oh, they blew everyone out,' or, 'They won a close game,' this and that. They might talk about one big moment or a couple big moments.

"But, you look back, they just say, 'They won more games than the other teams.'"