Cubs' joy evaporates quickly with punchless 4-3 loss to Kansas City

Before Friday's game against Kansas City, Cubs manager David Ross was asked if he was glad to have a day off to recover from the celebration set off by Christopher Morel's game-winning home run against the White Sox.

"No, I would have rather carried into yesterday," Ross responded. "Morel made everybody have a nice, happy off-day, I believe. but it would have been nice to build off that momentum."

Ross was proved prophetic a few hours later when the Cubs delivered a momentum-less 4-3 loss to the Royals at Wrigley Field. Cubs hitters struggled against left-handed starter Cole Ragans, but the biggest difference was 2 unearned Royals runs.

Jeimer Candelario made a wild throw from third base, leading to Kansas City's second run in the fourth inning. After the Cubs took a 3-2 lead, Patrick Wisdom muffed a ground ball at first base ahead of Bobby Witt Jr.'s go-ahead 2-run homer.

"I felt like we still had some chances and 3 runs could have been 4 or 5 and it's a different game," said Nico Hoerner, who went 3-for-4 with an RBI. "He (Ragans) had a good feel for a lot of different pitches today while throwing 98 and kind of using that sparingly, but obviously that's in your head as a hitter."

Ragans' fastball peaked at 98.6 miles per hour, but he used it just 33% of the time. He threw plenty of slower pitches like a curve, change up and slider to keep Cubs hitters off-balance.

This result continued a recent trend. The Cubs did well against left-handed pitchers early in the season. Since the all-star break, they've gone 15-4 using their traditional lineup vs. right-handed starters with Mike Tauchman in the leadoff spot, and have gone 5-8 with all other lineup combinations.

Wisdom started the day with Cubs' lowest batting average against left-handed pitchers this season. He can also win games by hitting a 3-run homers, but in retrospect, this would have been a day to use Nick Madrigal at third and Candelario at first. Wisdom did get a hit Friday, so now Morel (.194) has the Cubs' lowest average against lefties.

As is usually the case in Cubs losses, there were plenty of opportunities to change the outcome, besides the errors. The first two batters reached in the first inning, but couldn't score. When the Cubs strung together several hits in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead, they made the final out by getting picked off.

With runners on first and third, Hoerner said he left first base too early on a steal attempt. He got caught in a rundown, then the runner on third, Morel, was eventually tagged out.

"We had some nice momentum going, just an unnecessary out on the bases," Hoerner said. "That was on me completely."

With one out in the ninth inning, Hoerner sent a ground ball down the first-base line, decided to go for a double, but a perfect throw from right-fielder Drew Waters nailed him at second base.

"Playing the game aggressively and taking extra bases, as I do, there's always risk involved," Hoerner said. "You want to have that pretty well-calculated, but when the game's moving fast like that, sometimes that's a part of it and they made a good play."

Ian Happ walked, then the game ended on a checked-swing called third strike on Cody Bellinger. Replays showed it was likely the correct call.

"You don't want a game to end like that, want to yell and scream," manager David Ross said. "I started to and then, it was close. You don't feel like they go, go back and watch the slow motion, maybe they did."

Starting pitcher Jameson Taillon bounced back from a poor outing in Toronto on Sunday. He completed 6 innings with 2 earned runs allowed, which would have been enough to win without the 2 unearned runs. The Cubs moved Taillon up one spot in the rotation to give Justin Steele, who will pitch Saturday, an extra day of rest.

"I couldn't get out there soon enough after my last outing," Taillon said. "It's a sneaky tough little lineup. Not a ton of strikeout, they don't walk a ton, some good bat-to-ball skills, a bunch of young athletes. They made it a bit of a grind on me. Got through six, I thought I at least put us in a position at least to stay in the game there, have a shot late."

One of the Royals young stars, third baseman, Mikael Garcia, left the game with left upper-body discomfort. He was replaced by former Cub Matt Duffy, who hit the grounder that went for an error at first base.

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