BOX SCORE

CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks had to wait nearly two hours through weather on Sunday.

The Diamondbacks spoiled the day for the 29,062 fans at Wrigley Field who braved the conditions to watch the game, beating the Cubs 3-2. Arizona (13-9) salvaged the series finale against the Cubs.

Here are three takeaways from the Cubs’ (14-10) loss:

Free baseball

Sometimes baseball can be cruel – like a 112-mph liner hit right at the shortstop that allows him to double up the Cubs. That’s exactly what happened to them in the 11th inning in their loss.

Ian Happ roped a liner, but it went straight at Geraldo Perdomo at shortstop who glided over to step on second and double up Jon Berti, the extra innings courtesy runner. A few inches to the left or right and the ball maybe results in the tying run. But that’s baseball.

It puts a sour note on what was a successful start to the series for the Cubs. They took two of three from the Diamondbacks and had opportunities to complete the sweep. But all things considered, it was a successful weekend. They won the season series against the Diamondbacks – something that could prove to be impactful at the end of the year – and did so with having to rely heavily on their bullpen.

There’s no question, playing 11 innings – with two rain delays mixed in – isn’t what Cubs manager Craig Counsell or pitching coach Tommy Hottovy would have wanted. But they’ll have to use Monday’s day off to reset their relief corps against a potent Dodgers lineup that comes in for a quick, two-game set on Tuesday.

High praise for Taillon

The finale started late on Sunday – a 39-minute weather delay pushed back first pitch and, after three batters in the bottom of the first, the rain brought another postponement.

The latter was a 59-minute pause, one that teetered on the brink of knocking Jameson Taillon out of the game. It’s asking a starter a lot to go out, go through his pregame routine, throw 15 pitches in an inning and then sit for over an hour. That would have been devastating to a much-worked Cubs pitching staff.

The Cubs were likely down at least two pitchers in their bullpen on Sunday – left-hander Caleb Thielbar and right-hander Brad Keller had thrown on back-to-back days. A third pitcher, right-hander Daniel Palencia, pitched two innings on Saturday and was likely being avoided, too.

Taillon’s ability to not only pitch after the second delay but then toss five innings of one-run ball was massive for the Cubs on Sunday. It certainly looked for some time there that like manager Craig Counsell would have to turn to a weary bullpen to cover 24 outs.

He was in control through most of the outing, too. He no-hit the Diamondbacks through three innings and escaped a second-and-third, one-out jam with the help of his defense.

But the lack of offense meant Counsell still had to pick up extra outs from his beleaguered relief corps.

Kelly’s Day

Kelly had a solid day on Sunday at Wrigley Field.

Sorry, that’s Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly, not Cubs catcher Carson Kelly, who has been on an absolute heater.

Arizona’s starter allowed a single to Happ, walked Kyle Tucker, then the skies opened and led to the second delay. Kelly returned and refocused – that was bad news for the Cubs. He allowed a check-swing single to Busch that gave the Cubs the lead but retired 16 in a row after that.

He stymied the league’s best offense into the sixth inning. He exited with right leg cramping with two outs in the sixth, but – like Taillon – Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo was more than happy with the length he got out of Kelly given the weather-related circumstances.

The Cubs entered Sunday’s finale averaging 6.2 runs per game, the most in baseball and scored an MLB-high 143 runs, 19 more than the second-place New York Yankees. Counsell, though, knew they wouldn’t just be putting up those kinds of numbers all season.

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“There’s things that can happen,” Counsell said before the game. “There’s injuries and there’s slumps and there’s a great pitching performance. There’s things that you run into. That’s why it’s a daily grind, and it’s a daily challenge to win a baseball game.”

Runs were at a premium on Sunday – and that will happen more and more this season. That’s OK, it’s the nature of a baseball season.