John Lackey takes offense to Christian Bethancourt HR trot

Chicago Cubs pitcher John Lackey was not happy about a slow home run trot from a little-know San Diego Padres’ player.

After dropping the first game of a double-header against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday, the Chicago Cubs turned to John Lackey to bail them out for the day. Lackey pitched extremely well, going eight strong innings and only allowing one run. Unfortunately, the Cubs’ powerful offense was not able to come through for him, as he took the 1-0 loss.

The Padres’ only run in the game came off of a solo home run by catcher Christian Bethancourt with two outs in the fifth inning. Before the long bomb given up to Bethancourt, Lackey had been rolling without allowing a single Padres’ base runner to reach. However, Beathancourt’s long home run to left field stopped any perfect game, no-hitter or even shutout thoughts Lackey may have been having.

An upsetting loss for a guy who performed so well. After the game, Lackey took his frustrations out on Beathancourt, who watched his home run fly out of Wrigley Field before slowly trotting around the bases.

"“How many home runs does he have?” Lackey asked sarcastically according to Jesse Rogers of ESPN. “I got a long memory,” the clearly frustrated veteran pitcher continued. “He’ll learn.”"

This was the first meeting between Lackey and Beathancourt, and the Cubs’ right-hander is certainly looking forward to the next. The Padres’ doubleheader sweep is the first time the Cubs have lost consecutive games this season, and they still hold the best record in baseball at 25-8.

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