Athletics 5, Cubs 3: Hey, remember all those bullpen meltdowns?

Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty ImagesJustin Steele returned from the injured list Wednesday afternoon on an absolutely gorgeous late summer day.

Unfortunately, he appeared pitch-limited and after struggling and loading the bases in the third inning, Steele was lifted after 57 pitches.

That made this essentially a bullpen game for the Cubs. Now, if the Cubs pen had pitched the way they had for most of the last couple of months, that might have worked out all right. But Drew Smyly and Nate Pearson got lit up in the seventh and eighth innings and as has been the case for many recent Cubs games, the offense vanished after the middle innings.

All of that added up to a 5-3 loss to the A’s. Let’s…