Ben Brown continues to show he can handle any role the Chicago Cubs need from him.
Brown found out after Wednesday night’s game he would be getting the ball roughly 15 hours later against the Atlanta Braves for his first home start. The short notice and revolving usage between the bullpen and rotation didn’t faze Brown. He tossed four shutout innings Thursday in a 3-0 Cubs loss, holding the Braves to one hit while walking two and striking out six on 66 pitches.
“The best part about being in the big leagues is that you don’t really have too much time to think about things,” Brown said. “Mentally I have a lot of really good teammates who’ve been looking out for me and looking out for the mental side of things.”
Jarred Kelenic tagged Hayden Wesneski for a solo homer in the fifth, and the Braves tacked on two runs in the eighth off Kyle Hendricks in his first regular-season relief appearance since 2016. The offense managed just four hits in the loss.
The Cubs (27-24) had their chances during a 2-5 homestand in which they failed to score more than four runs in any game.
Offense remains in a rut
The Cubs have faced tough starting pitchers over the last two weeks, but their offensive production can’t continuously be at no-hit levels.
The loss Thursday marked the fifth shutout of the season for a lineup that has averaged only 2.3 runs in the last 10 games, all of which have come against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Braves. The Cubs cannot afford this stretch of offensive futility to extend much longer with Friday beginning a stretch of 10 games versus National League Central opponents.
“You hope that you always have a couple of guys that are feeling really good that can carry some of those at-bats, and that’s what you see when teams kind of maintain stretches of not knocking the cover off the ball but doing enough to score some runs and plate some runs early against those starters,” hitting coach Dustin Kelly told the Tribune. “We’ve faced really good starters, but this is the big leagues, right? I mean, everybody has really good starters, the pitching in this game right now is incredible so we’re not making excuses. We’re going to face these guys from here on out and that’s what’s going to happen in the playoffs.”
Although there have been some encouraging expected metrics that point to unluckiness for a few Cubs hitters, especially Christopher Morel, they need more consistency, in particular from Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki, who haven’t been able to pick up where they left off since returning this month from the injured list.
“The balls we did hit hard, whether they’re hit to the wrong place or the wrong trajectory, ultimately we didn’t do enough offensively,” manager Craig Counsell said. “The answer is to just come back tomorrow and have good at-bats and swing at the right pitches and that’s how you have to move forward with it.”
The Cubs must hope they can break out of this on the upcoming trip, otherwise they are trending toward entering June on the wrong side of .500.
Ian Happ finally getting on track
One of the few bright spots this week featured Happ’s offensive performance.
During the three-game set against the Braves, Happ had four hits, including three doubles. It’s an encouraging sign for the left fielder, who began the series batting .160 with a .275 on-base percentage in his previous 138 plate appearances spanning 33 games. Happ believes his consistent at-bats are finally paying off with positive results.
“I think that’s the most important thing,” Happ said. “Attacking pitches early in the count that you can hit and not missing those so when you’re in a funk, a lot of times you’re fouling those balls off and when you can put those balls in play and hit the ball harder earlier in counts and get yourself where if you’re working deep in counts you’re in a leverage advantage and not 0-2 and fighting back all the time.”
The Cubs desperately need some sort of spark from their veteran hitters such as Happ. Now he needs to show his production wasn’t a one-series anomaly.
Porter Hodge flashes electric stuff
Hodge had plenty of time to think about how his first big-league appearance might play out.
The Cubs desperately needed relief help as injuries mounted during their last trip, prompting Hodge to get the call every player hopes for. But after joining the team Friday at Wrigley Field, Hodge spent each game in the bullpen waiting for his opportunity.
On his sixth day in a Cubs uniform, Hodge’s opportunity finally arrived in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 9-2 loss to the Braves. And he was nearly perfect against a daunting trio.
The right-hander struck out Ozzie Albies, Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson on just 10 pitches. An 0-1 ball to Olson prevented Hodge from recording the rare immaculate inning in his debut. He didn’t shy away from going after the middle of the Braves order. Hodge, 23, threw all fastballs, producing six whiffs.
The cut ride on his fastball gives hitters a tough look.
“There’s other guys that have it, but it’s just a unique shape to a fastball,” Counsell said Thursday. “It’s not something that hitters normally see. … He had a great first day, and you celebrate that and enjoy it and then you move on to the next day.
“I mean, that’s really how you do it and I think that’s how he should do it and that’s how he will process it. It’s really good feedback for him. It’s confidence-boosting for him and then you’ve got to go on to the next challenge.”
Hodge reached Triple-A Iowa for the first time in his career in mid-April and posted a 6.55 ERA with 11 walks and 18 strikeouts in 11 innings over 10 games. He has battled some command issues since the Cubs drafted him in the 13th round in 2019, and it contributed to his move to the bullpen last year.
As the bullpen gets healthy, Hodge eventually will head back to Iowa to refine his command. He showed, though, that his stuff can play, which is an important development for both Hodge and the Cubs’ depth.
Hodge said he sometimes got in trouble in the minors by throwing too many noncompetitive pitches with his fastball. That certainly wasn’t an issue Wednesday.
“Remembering how good my fastball is and staying true to that and having the right mentality every time I go out, it’s really important to me,” Hodge told the Tribune on Thursday. “As a reliever, I have to be mentally locked in and stay locked in, so it helps me out. … Staying in the zone (with my fastball) because when I stay in the zone, it’s like unhittable.”
