​Throughout this season I have praised Cubs manager Craig Counsell for handling a bullpen devastated by injuries extremely well. He’s rested guys at the right time and used pitchers successfully who ordinarily would not have had any chance of being in the major leagues but were there of necessity due to injury.In Friday’s 10-8 loss to the Reds, though, I did not understand why Counsell didn’t turn to Aaron Civale in the sixth inning with the Cubs actually ahead 3-2. Civale has been really good out of the pen for the Cubs, hadn’t pitched since Sunday, and with David Peterson having thrown five innings in which he struggled somewhat, it would have been useful to get some length out of the pen, maybe two innings from Civale.Instead, Counsell called on Trent Thornton. In fairness, Thornton has also been pretty good this year, but on this day he was not, allowing five runs including a pair of home runs. Civale then came in and gave the Cubs that length, and yes, they nearly did come back. Civale did get charged with two runs — because of an error by Alex Bregman, not his fault.Perhaps you disagree. That’s a subject for discussion here.Okay, now here’s your game recap.Peterson had a rough first inning, allowing a pair of baserunners but eventually striking out the side. Then the Cubs put a run on the board in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Seiya Suzuki doubled, and one out later, Bregman doubled him in [VIDEO]. Your browser does not support the video tag. Peterson struggled again in the second and third, allowing more baserunners but running up a high pitch count. The Cubs extended the lead to 3-0 in the third. Pete Crow-Armstrong led off with a single and then the Reds pulled the play Nico Hoerner has made a couple of times — deliberately dropping a popup by Suzuki to get the faster runner, PCA, forced at second.Michael Busch made sure that didn’t matter with a three-run homer [VIDEO]. Your browser does not support the video tag. This, perhaps, is a good sign for Busch, whose power numbers have been down this year. That’s three homers in his last nine games, and perhaps he can finish the year strong in that department. This was his 17th — only half as many as he hit in 2025.The Reds scored one off Peterson in the fourth and Sal Stewart homered off him in the fifth to make it 3-2. So Peterson was done after five innings and 88 pitches, which I think was the right call by Counsell. As I noted above, in my view starting the sixth with Thornton was the wrong call, and it wound up with the Cubs trailing 7-3 after the end of that inning, the key blow a three-run homer by Tyler Stephenson. Civale had to come in to get the last out, then he would have been out of the seventh scoreless if not for the error by Bregman. That play didn’t score a run — but set up a two-run single by Elly De La Cruz that made it 9-3.There was one other homer in the sixth, by Jose Trevino, that tied the game before Stephenson’s. About that, from