Cubs plan to give Tucker time off after offense does nothing against Brewers

The Brewers looked every bit of nine games better than the Cubs in Monday's opener of a five-game series at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs' slumbering offense did not awaken, managing just 2 hits against four Milwaukee pitchers in a 7-0 loss.

After the game, Cubs manager Craig Counsell admitted it's time to give right fielder Kyle Tucker a few days off to try to figure things out at the plate. It wasn't egregious, but fans at Wrigley were certainly grumbling while Tucker delivered three soft grounders and a fly out.

“Yeah, look, Kyle's frustrated as well,” Counsell said. “The fans are frustrated and Kyle's frustrated, and it's unfortunate. When you make outs, it doesn't look great, but he's trying. It's not clicking. We're going to have to take a little step back here for sure and just give him some days off to reset him, hopefully.”

Tucker doesn't have an extra-base hit since he doubled in Milwaukee on July 30. His last home run was July 19 in the second game after the all-star break. Tucker is hitting .182 since the break.

“He's frustrated and we're not coming up with solutions for him and he's not coming up with solutions,” Counsell said. “So sometimes you have to take some steps back to go forward again.”

The one highlight for the Cubs in Game 1 was Owen Caissie collecting his first major-league hit on a line drive to left-center in the seventh inning. In his previous at-bat, with the Cubs trailing 1-0 in the fourth, Caissie worked a 3-2 count with one out and the bases loaded.

With the fans on their feet, he swung and missed a Freddy Peralta changeup outside the zone. Nico Hoerner's soft liner to right ended the Cubs' best threat. Lake Forest native Caleb Durbin then homered in the fifth to make it 2-0.

Horton exits early

Starting pitcher Cade Horton left the mound in the third inning with a blister on his right middle finger. The Cubs rookie started out well, then gave up a homer, double, walk and hit batter before exiting.

“I felt it in the second inning,” Horton said. “It'd been a callus all week, and then the callus finally gave, and it became a blister. My slider and my changeup, those are the two that I really rip off the lace. So it was mainly those two (pitches).”

Horton said this type of blister tends to be a yearly occurrence for him and, based on experience, he expects to make his next start. He said he'll be using Stan's Rodeo Ointment, a remedy invented by former Dodgers trainer Stan Johnston.

“It's really frustrating,” said Horton, who had won his previous four starts. “Big series, big game, and just the competitor in me wants to be out there and try to give my team a chance to win. Obviously, it's probably better, looking at it from a bigger picture, to go ahead and call it before it gets worse and end up missing a lot of time for it.”

Because Game 2 of Monday’s scheduled doubleheader was rained out, the Cubs will play two games on Tuesday. The opener will start at 1:20 p.m. and the second game at 7:05 p.m.

Around the horn

Before the game, the Cubs sent pitcher Javier Assad back to Iowa, brought up left-hander Luke Little and designated reliever Gavin Hollowell as the 27th player for the doubleheader. Manager Craig Counsell said the move was done to give the Cubs more fresh arms and Assad would be back.

Little pitched 2 innings in Game 1, allowing an unearned run. Hollowell walked the bases loaded and was tagged for 4 runs in the eighth, which put the game out of reach. …

Counsell said the Cubs are optimistic catcher Miguel Amaya (ankle sprain) will be able to return before the end of the season. … After two days out sick, closer Daniel Palencia was available Monday, but did not pitch in Game 1.