When a team is struggling it can be hard to catch a break. Chicago Cubs second baseman Ian Happ was hoping they would catch a big one in the fourth inning on Sunday.
In a 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, after failing to put a runner on base in the first three innings, the Cubs loaded the bases in the fourth with two outs when Nico Hoerner grounded to short.
Cardinals shortstop Brandon Crawford threw to second baseman Nolan Gorman and it appeared that Happ slid into second safely but he was called out.
The Cubs challenged the call and replays on the scoreboard had many of the 39,118 in attendance cheering, thinking there would be a reversal and a run would be put on the board.
But the call stood, the inning ended and the Cubs came up empty with momentum taken away.
“I felt like I was safe,” Happ told the Tribune. “But it was a bang-bang play and none of the camera angles were very good. One camera angle that showed it pretty clear, someone’s foot was blocking it.
“I tried to get a good jump and beat it out. We would have had a lot of momentum if that one went our way.”
Happ, who had two hits and a walk Sunday, had come through Saturday with a seventh-inning, three-run home run in a 5-1 victory over the Cardinals.
But Cardinals veteran starter Miles Mikolas, who entered Sunday’s game with a 4.85 ERA, held the Cubs to one run on four hits in 6 1/3 innings.
Happ said he is happy with his recent offensive surge, but the team is 34-38 and has dropped seven of its last 10 games.
“It’s a team game and we’re all doing what we can to manufacture runs,” he said. “It’s been challenging. We hit some balls really hard and we’re having good at-bats and they will fall.”
The Cubs were looking for back-to-back wins for the first time since sweeping the White Sox on June 4-5. Prior to that, the last time the Cubs won back-to-back games was May 4-5 against Milwaukee to improve their record to 21-14 at the time.
Cubs starter Jameson Taillon (3-3) gave up two runs in six innings in Sunday’s game.
Crawford, who entered the game with a .162 batting average, doubled in the second inning and rookie Pedro Pagés, who was hitting .114, then cracked Taillon’s 0-2 pitch for a two-run home run into the left-field seats.
That was Pagés’ second career home run, the first coming Friday off Hayden Wesneski in the Cardinals’ 3-0 win over the Cubs.
“We haven’t been able to turn the page off of this tough streak,” Taillon said. “It is what it is and it’s happened. Now let’s get past it and find a way to climb out of it.
“I do truly believe we have a good team. We have names. We have dudes who have done it in the past and we’ve had guys who have been very successful in this league.”
Shortstop Dansby Swanson, who is hitting .212 in 212 at-bats and drew two walks on Sunday, thinks the offense is letting the starting pitching down.
“We have a lot of guys who have been there and done that and have proven themselves to be really good hitters,” Swanson said. “We’ve been through it. At some point, the law of averages will change.”
Michael Busch drove in Happ in the seventh inning for the Cubs’ lone run. Reliever Keegan Thompson, who was recalled from Triple-A Iowa after starter Jordan Wicks was placed on the injured list Saturday with a right oblique strain, threw a scoreless ninth.
In other roster moves, the Cubs selected right-hander Ethan Roberts to the 40-man roster and optioned him to Triple-A Iowa. Right-hander José Cuas was designated for assignment.
The Cubs are 8 1/2 games behind division-leading Milwaukee in the National League Central and are one of the 10 NL teams currently below .500.
“That’s the National League,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s just where we’re at. Every year provides a different scenario, and this is the scenario this year, where there is a whole bunch of teams bunched together, other than the division leaders.
“You want to be above that, but we’re in it.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
