Cubs’ struggles with runners in scoring position cost them in series vs. Reds.
The Cubs have now lost six straight series and sit 7.5 games back of the Brewers in the National League Central. They’re now 7-12 against divisional teams this season.
After Ben Brown’s seven no-hit innings against the Brewers last week, hopes were high for another good outing from the Cubs rookie. Of course, no one could expect seven no-hit innings again, but perhaps another solid outing?
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Nope. The Reds are really not a good team — no, truly they are not — but they hit Brown pretty hard and the decisive blow was a three-run homer by TJ Friedl, who came into this game hitting .161 with one extra-base hit (a double) in 31 at-bats.
Some days it’s just not your day, and this wasn’t the Cubs’ afternoon, as they lost the game 5-2 and the series to the visitors from Cincinnati. At least the weather was nice.
Let’s see if we can find some highlights.
After Brown gave up the three-run homer in the second, part of a four-run inning (shades of Saturday night’s game!), the Reds pushed across a fifth run in the third inning on two singles and a sacrifice fly. The Cubs, through three, had a pair of hits, a hit batter and a walk, but all that accomplished was 0-for-3 with RISP and four runners left on base.
The Cubs finally broke through in the fifth. Nico Hoerner singled with one out and went to third on a single by Seiya Suzuki. Cody Bellinger singled Nico in [VIDEO].
But with runners on first and third, Christopher Morel hit into an inning-ending double play.
One more Cubs run crossed the plate in the sixth. Patrick Wisdom led off with a single, advanced to second on a single by Ian Happ and took third on a fielder’s choice by Dansby Swanson.
Another FC by the just-recalled David Bote scored Wisdom [VIDEO].
But that was basically it for the Cubs offense, they had just two baserunners after the sixth, a two-out double by Bellinger in the seventh (Cody went 3-for-4) and a leadoff walk by pinch-hitter Michael Busch in the ninth. Busch went to second on defensive indifference, which led to yet another 0-fer with RISP. All told, the Cubs were 1-for-11 with RISP and left nine men on base.
Busch was batting for Bote. At that point the only bench players remaining were Pete Crow-Armstrong and Yan Gomes. PCA batted for Miguel Amaya and flied to right. Had the game somehow got to extra innings, Gomes would have had to come in and catch and… well, Busch would have had to play third base, since there wasn’t anyone else (Bote and Wisdom, the other 3B on the roster, were both out of the game by this time). Maybe it’s better we didn’t see that.
The one positive thing we saw in this loss was three scoreless innings of relief by Kyle Hendricks. He allowed three hits and walked a pair, but also got four outs on ground balls (including a double play) and struck out two. He looked… good, actually. Maybe this relief gig can work out after all.
I didn’t think Brown threw that badly, though even some of the outs were hit hard. He did strike out six [VIDEO].
