Cubs' home-run reliance continues, again with poor results
The Cubs' second great hitting slump of the season continued Saturday.
It was the sixth straight game when the only Cubs' scoring came on a home run. While losing five of their last six games, the Cubs have hit .131 as a team. In June, they are batting .186, worst in MLB.
"We certainly believe we'll bounce out of it," Eric Sogard said. "It's a time when we need to do those smaller things and work at-bats, work walks and get guys over. Do a little small ball compared to just relying on the home run all the time. We've got to find other ways to win than just by the long ball."
The Cubs have been here before. They posted similarly poor offensive numbers during the first two weeks of the season and snapped out of it.
"The game's hard. It's a long season," Joc Pederson said. "I think we just won a bunch of games in a row, led by our offense. If we did that the whole year, we'd win 120 games. So that's just not realistic.
"It's part of the game. We're going to keep going, just like we did at the start of the year. I think that was rock bottom. So just keep trending up."
The Cubs seemed to turn things around with more emphasis on making contact, led by guys like Matt Duffy and Nico Hoerner, who are both currently on the injured list.
"The contact has definitely played into a lot of success," manager David Ross said. "It's not only the hits and the balls that they drive in, it's the tough at-bats, the extra work the pitcher goes through. It's the walks they may take or the bloop that may turn it to the next guy.
"You know there's going to be a lot of foul balls, you're not going to blow anything by guys. That takes a toll on the opposing pitcher."
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