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Julian Merryweather was teetering through the eighth, loading the bases with a ringing double sandwiched by two walks.
Coming off a blowup outing in his last appearance and setting a new career high in innings with every out, the effort to preserve a one-run lead in the latest must-win affair for the Cubs’ playoff hopes was a situation worth pitching coach Tommy Hottovy’s intervention.
“Mechanically, Tommy identified some things and went out and talked to him and tried to look at where his misses were,” Cubs manager David Ross said.