Cubs flaws tougher to ignore after another loss to Pirates
For much of this season, a narrative building with the Cubs was about how they've been surprisingly successful considering the long list of injuries endured.
On the other hand, with the flaws piling up during a rough week, it's fair to wonder if a downturn is inevitable.
The Cubs lost 3-2 to Pittsburgh at Wrigley Field on Sunday, dropping three of four in the series. They've gone 9-13 since April 27.
“I feel like we've done a pretty good job kind of just weathering the storm until more recently,” losing pitcher Jameson Taillon said after the game. “It felt like for a little while there we would pitch our way through some games. When the pitching would struggle, we would hit our way through some games. Right now we're just all going through it a little bit together.”
A 1-run loss generally offers plenty of plays that could have reversed the outcome. But the Cubs were outhit 10-2, their pitchers gave up 6 walks and the defense was again sloppy. The Cubs were charged with 1 error, on shortstop Miles Mastrobuoni, but it easily could have been four with some tougher scoring.
The Pirates went 4-for-4 on stolen bases. Not including pickoffs, opponents have been successful on 24 straight steal attempts against Miguel Amaya, and have swiped 29 of the last 30 against both Cubs catchers.
The good news is the Cubs should be able to avoid long losing streaks with Shota Imanaga and Javier Assad pitching so well. The Cubs are 14-4 when one of those two pitchers starts, 12-18 when someone else is on the mound.
“It's been not our greatest stretch, but a lot of baseball left,” Cody Bellinger said. “Just got to put it behind us, off day tomorrow and come back ready to play against another good team (Atlanta).”
The Cubs (26-22) did make their 2 hits count. Mike Tauchman tripled to the wall in right field and scored on a sacrifice fly to tie the score 1-1 in the third. Trailing 3-1 in the sixth, Seiya Suzuki was hit by a pitch and Bellinger doubled, putting two runners on with nobody out.
Christopher Morel followed with a deep fly ball that might have gone out for a 3-run homer on another day. Instead, it was one of those windy Wrigley specials where left fielder Connor Joe backed up to the wall, then ran forward and made the catch roughly 20 steps inside the ivy at a harmless 323 feet.
Don't complain too much, though. The Pirates might have hit 3 or 4 home runs if not for the wind. Chicago native Jack Suwinski started the day 4-for-5 with 3 home runs against Taillon. He collected home run No. 4 in the second inning, knocking one into the right-field corner to defeat the wind.
The Pirates (22-26) came up with a decisive hit in the fifth. A walk, infield single and wild pitch put runners on second and third with one out. Taillon struck out Oneil Cruz and manager Craig Counsell decided to pull the plug at 92 pitches.
Hayden Wesneski came in and walked Joe, then gave up a 2-run single to Nick Gonzales.
“I thought I threw OK,” Taillon said. “Pitch count got up there. That's a pretty patient team … so they were making me work and just got baseballed a little bit there, some well-placed hits and stuff. So the pitch count got up. That's always frustrating.”
The Cubs could leave the ballpark with two silver linings: Middle infielders Dansby Swanson (knee) and Nico Hoerner (hamstring) are expected to return from injuries Tuesday. And Atlanta is playing a doubleheader Monday with Reynaldo Lopez and Chris Sale — who both shut out the Cubs last week in Georgia — scheduled to pitch.
Counsell wasn't ready to make a judgment on the state of the Cubs.
“You're at where you're at in the standings,” he said. “That's kind of in the past. The future is what we've got. We're not a perfect team. And we've got to play well to win games. We didn't play well enough today to win a game.”
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