Cubs mini-slump? Keep it in perspective, team says

MILWAUKEE — Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler put it best Thursday.

“It's a matter of perspective,” Fowler said a few minutes after the Cubs lost 5-3 to the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.

The Cubs have hit their first little lull of the season, having dropped two of three to the Brewers and three of four overall to fall to 28-11 for the season.

Hitting, or the lack of hitting, has been the main culprit during this mini-slump. Over the last four games, the Cubs have scored a total of 8 runs.

“Some guys are hitting the ball well; they're just not finding any luck,” said Fowler, who led off Thursday's game with his fourth home run of the season. “It's baseball.”

That was the theme that sounded throughout the visitors clubhouse after this one as the Cubs prepared to embark on a West Coast trip to face the San Francisco Giants, the first-place team in the National League West.

The Cubs had plenty of chances Thursday. In the ninth inning, they put the first two runners on base but could not score. Fowler hit one to the wall in right center, but it was caught before Jason Heyward struck out to end the game.

“I just once again love the fact that we played to the end of the game,” said Cubs manager Joe Maddon. “We were in the game all the time. We had opportunities at the end. They, the Brewers, pitched really well against us.”

Junior Guerra started for the Brewers and improved to 3-0. He outdueled the Cubs' Jason Hammel, who lost his first decision of the season against five victories. Hammel gave up a leadoff homer to Chris Carter in the fourth inning to tie the score at 2-2.

In the sixth, Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a 2-run homer, putting Milwaukee up 4-2.

The Cubs scored once in the seventh before the Brewers put across an insurance run in the eighth. Hammel worked 6 innings, giving up 5 hits and 4 runs.

“You can't win all of them,” Hammel said. “I've won and lost plenty of games, so it's not really something I'm looking at. Obviously, I wanted a better outcome today, but I felt like I threw the ball pretty well. It justed ended up being the two home run balls to leave the park.”

Cubs batters struck out 15 times, with Maddon saying, “We haven't been swinging and missing like that in a bit.”

That said, Maddon doesn't see the need or the practicality of making any drastic lineup changes.

“I like it the way it is,” he said. “It has nothing to do with the lineup, one through nine. It's just a matter of us moving the baseball at the right time.”

The Cubs should have no trouble getting up for the Giants. They've taken care of business against the better clubs this season. They've stumbled a bit recently against the Padres and Brewers.

“That's something that we've talked about in the past,” Maddon said. “I don't want to say that Milwaukee's not a better team because they've been playing well. But that's always been a concern of mine, that when you get into moments like this that you don't have that same mental edge going on. The Padres got us. The Rockies got us (in April). Now these guys got us. That's something that has to go away, but again, at this particular junction of the season, it's still early. Give the Brewers credit.”

And maintain some perspective.

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Scouting report

Chicago Cubs vs. San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park

TV: WGN Friday; FOX Saturday; ESPN Sunday

Radio: WSCR 670-AM

Pitching matchups: The Cubs' Jake Arrieta (7-0) vs. Jake Peavy (1-4) Friday at 9:15 p.m.; Jon Lester (4-2) vs. Matt Cain (0-5) Saturday at 6:15 p.m.; Kyle Hendricks (2-3) vs. Madison Bumgarner (5-2) Sunday at 7:05 p.m.

At a glance: This is a battle of first-place ballclubs, with the Cubs leading the NL Central and the Giants atop the NL West. Giants manager Bruce Bochy has his team back in its good, even-numbered-year form. Brandon Belt entered Thursday's game against the Padres with a line of .301/.429/.493 with 4 homers and 22 RBI. Hunter Pence was at .298/.388/.497 with 7 homers and 31 RBI. San Francisco was sixth in runs scored, 11th in homers, fourth in on-base percentage and seventh in ERA. The Cubs entered Thursday first in runs scored, sixth in homers first in OBP and first in team ERA. Former Cub Jeff Samardzija was scheduled to pitch Thursday vs. the Padres.

Next: St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, Monday-Wednesday

— Bruce Miles