MILWAUKEE — Controlling the controllable tends to be the mark of winning teams.
There are days hitters will be shut down by the opposing pitching staff. Others when a starter or bullpen might not have their best stuff. Every big-league team experiences both over the course of a season. But defense and smart base running should be key pillars on a playoff-caliber team — yet for the Chicago Cubs, those fundamentals continue to be lacking for a veteran team.
Those issues have become even more pronounced during the Cubs’ struggles over the last two months. A weekend of more miscues on the bases and mistakes in the field contributed to the Cubs dropping the series with a 7-1 loss Sunday to the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. They scored all seven runs in the fourth inning off right-hander Kyle Hendricks.
The Cubs (39-46) have lost 16 of their last 22 games on the road and enter July sitting in last place in the National League Central — 11 1/2 games behind the Brewers — with only the Miami Marlins and Colorado Rockies owning more losses in the NL.
“I think it’s going further back, we’ve been trying a sense urgency and yesterday was a good win, big win for us,” Hendricks said. ” … We have some of our leaders doing the things we need to do, just still that inconsistency. The sense of urgency has been there, it’s still there.
“We have to take care of our jobs, take care of our business and it starts with each individual, so me focusing on doing my job to the best of my ability.”
The Cubs managed just two hits in Sunday’s loss, both tallied in the first inning. Nico Hoerner’s second leadoff home run of the year stood as their lone run. Despite putting some pressure on Brewers starter Freddy Peralta in the opening inning, the offense managed just two base runners (both walks) the rest of the game.
“Offensively it’s a day when it’s one run so it’s hard to see a scenario that’s going to win us a game and so offensively, no matter who we’re facing, we’re going to have to be better,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s kind of what I take away from it.”
The Cubs, though, again hurt themselves with poor execution. Left fielder Ian Happ misplayed Rhys Hoskins’ fly ball in the fourth, resulting in the ball falling for a single. Rather than representing the second out of the inning, Milwaukee had runners on first and second base. Sal Fralick followed with an RBI single to put the Brewers ahead 3-1, and Jackson Chourio’s ensuing single loaded the bases. Hendricks struck out Andrew Monasterio, which should have ended the inning had Happ caught the ball.
Instead of heading to the fifth down by two runs, two pitches later Brice Turang slugged a grand slam to end Hendricks’ day.
Hendricks downplayed Happ’s mistake, explaining that in his mind it was a home run on another bad pitch that he shouldn’t have gotten away with and would have been lucky to get an out there.
“We’ve got to focus on who we are, like me: do my job. I’ve got to set the tone,” Hendricks said. “Like today, I’ve gotta get out of that inning and give us a chance. That’s the only way we’re going to start playing good baseball and play fundamental baseball. We have to each focus on our own jobs, make sure we’re doing it to the best of our ability and if I’m not doing that today, I can’t speak to anything else.”
Happ said he had a good step on Hoskins’ fly ball, but on the flight down it shifted toward left-center field and his body wasn’t in a great spot.
“I kind of thought it was gonna be more up against the wall over there and I got turned around. Obviously not my best moment out there and it put Kyle in a tough spot. … Making him get four outs in an inning, stuff like that you don’t want to happen.”
Added Counsell: “The misplay on the fly ball hurt us for sure, and they got a huge hit. … It looked to me like he was trying to get to the wall and find the wall and he kind of just misjudged where he was at unfortunately. He was definitely battling some sun as well.”
The sequence continues overall poor fundamentals the Cubs have displayed too often this season, a surprising development under Counsell. In their weekend series alone, Cody Bellinger was doubled off first base in the sixth inning of Friday’s loss when he was running on a pitch and advanced past second base with no shot to get back in time. The Cubs’ 36 outs on the bases lead MLB, with the majority occurring at home plate.
Then a botched rundown between second and third during the third inning of Saturday’s win was part of an ugly inning that had starter Justin Steele fired up, yelling “Wake up!” with an expletive mixed in there as he entered the dugout.
“We haven’t been as crisp defensively,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said Friday. “We’ve had some good games defensively recently, but overall … I think some of the base running, I watch it and do think there’s a cycle that happens when guys are trying too hard — of course everyone’s pressing. You see that, you see guys pressing. These guys are all aware. They know they haven’t scored enough runs over the last two months. So guys start trying too hard to take the extra base and do the little thing to do it to push the run across.
“It’s human nature and it’s a bad cycle.”
The Cubs don’t have much time to turn things around if Hoyer is to be convinced to acquire players by the July 30 trade deadline who could help them during a two-month playoff push. Their poor fundamentals and maddening offensive inconsistencies have put the Cubs in a bad spot for the second consecutive season.
“It’s a frustrating place to be for the group,” Happ said. “We’re obviously not close to where we want to be. Just over the halfway point, there’s a lot of baseball left. We have to find a way to string couple series together and find a way to play a game at a time, but we need to win a series and get on a little bit of a run here.
“We’ve had a couple games like today where we’ve got a chance to win the series and get some momentum going and don’t get it done. So we’re gonna have to string a few wins together and see what we can do.”
