Quiet Cubs offense makes unwelcome return
The quiet, considerate Cubs have returned, taking care not to disturb the neighbors with too much noise.
The offense managed just 4 hits Saturday and the Cubs lost their second in a row coming out of the all-star break, 3-0 to Arizona.
Their hitters were hot before the break. The Cubs won eight of 11 games and clobbered 6 home runs in St. Louis last Sunday.
“That's not an excuse for us,” manager Craig Counsell said of the poorly-time break in the schedule. “We had 9 baserunners in 5 innings against a very good starting pitcher (Zac Gallen). Ultimately we kind of needed the next hit to score and didn't get it.”
Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks breezed through four scoreless innings, but was tagged for an opposite-field home run by Chicago native Alek Thomas in the fifth. Thomas' home run barely reached the basket in left, but it ended Hendricks' streak of 11 consecutive scoreless innings, including his strong outing in St. Louis last week.
Hendricks then walked No. 9 hitter Gerald Perdomo and Corbin Carroll followed with a 2-run homer to right that reached the bleachers with room to spare.
It seems like the Cubs have been out-homered at Wrigley Field too many times this season. The actual count is 48-45 in favor of the opponents, according to the game notes.
“The game seems to come down to who out-homers the other team,” Hendricks said. “We've just got to be better. It starts with us on the mound, we can't give them up.”
Still, this was another encouraging start by Hendricks. The Cubs need to keep him in the rotation with Hayden Wesneski going on the injured list and other starters still working their way back from injuries.
“I feel really good, being down in the zone with my fastball, changeup playing off it,” Hendricks said. “I feel like it still all come down to Miggy (catcher Miguel Amaya). He's doing a great job of just mixing everything, using a lot of curveballs today. There were a lot of adjustments we made that played out well.”
After falling behind 3-0, the Cubs had a chance to get right back in it when Nico Hoerner walked to start the bottom of the fifth. Michael Busch then doubled to left, with the ball disappearing into the ivy for a ground-rule double.
With runners on second and third with nobody out, Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ both struck out. Christopher Morel walked, then Mike Tauchman ended the inning with a slow grounder to first. If Suzuki and Happ could have done that, the Cubs would have scored twice.
Another full house at Wrigley Field filled the air with boos after the fifth-inning failure, then had little to cheer the rest of the way.
“We knew coming out of the break these were going to be a couple big series to start and just unfortunate to drop these two,” Hendricks said. “Just got to keep trudging away, take it one day at a time, one pitch at a time. That's where we've been, but just got to play a little better baseball.”
The Cubs (47-53) got off to a slow start after the all-star break last year, dropping three of four against Boston and Washington to fall to 43-50 on the season. Sell-off talk grew louder, but the Cubs went on an 18-6 tear to vault back into playoff contention by mid-August.