Wesneski's rare poor start a learning experience

MINNEAPOLIS -- The moment the ball left Hayden Wesneski's hand, he knew he had made a mistake.

The Cubs’ starter missed his spot to Twins slugger Joey Gallo in the heart of the plate. All Wesneski could do is let out his anguish with a visible yell as the ball was heading out to deep right field.

Gallo’s three-run homer in the third inning was a crucial point in Wesneski's start at Target Field and a lesson for the young 25-year-old.

“I missed my spot,” Wesneski said after Saturday afternoon’s 11-1 loss to the Twins. “It was the right-pitched ball. I threw it and I go, ‘No.’ I knew better. I knew what was about to happen, pretty much.”

Gallo’s homer was one of a career-high four allowed by Wesneski on Saturday. He surrendered a career-high seven hits and a career-high-tying seven runs in five innings.

“I think, overall, our execution was a little suspect relative to what it has been,” catcher Tucker Barnhart said. “Just one of those days. He made some good pitches. But a lot of times, attacking lineups is execution over stuff and it felt today that we just didn’t have our best execution.”

For Wesneski, he said Saturday he learned a lot about himself, particularly in where to locate his pitches and the necessity to miss in the right spots if he’s going to make a mistake.

The right-hander, who started the season as the No. 5 prospect in the Cubs’ system according to MLB Pipeline, was making his eighth start of the season and just his 12th start of his MLB career after his debut last season.

“First of all, the work between outings -- especially yesterday -- when it comes to game planning and stuff like that,” Wesneski said of what he learned. “But not missing down rather than up on certain guys. So, just kind of taking away from certain hitters. You can miss here, but you can’t miss here.

“I kind of missed in that instance in Gallo’s sweet spot. So, it’s one of those things where I’d rather have thrown it way above that Tuck had to jump and catch it rather than missing down there. And that’s something that you need to keep in mind moving forward.”

Saturday’s start was an unexpected blip in a strong run for Wesneski. He had allowed just one run in each of his previous three starts, spanning 17 innings. Only once this season has he allowed more than three runs.

Wesneski had contributed to Chicago’s league-leading total of 20 quality starts entering Saturday’s action. After the game, manager David Ross wasn't sounding many alarms regarding the tough day by his starter.

“Just execution, it felt like,” Ross said. “A lot of balls over the heart of the plate, a lot of hard contact, really good swings. You could kind of tell that a little bit early. … We haven’t had many of those. We haven’t had many clunkers like that early on where we’re out of the game. So, we’ll be back at it tomorrow.”

Alex Kirilloff hit homers in his first two at-bats against Wesneski. Jorge Polanco ended a 10-pitch at-bat in the fifth with a two-run homer.

After a mound visit, Wesneski was left in and finished his outing with a strikeout of Trevor Larnach.

“Against a lineup like that who, when you miss spots or they paint you into a bad count, it’s not necessarily just singles,” Barnhart said. “It’s loud, loud contact and makes it difficult. But it’s just a blip and Hayden will be better next time out, I’m sure.”