The cold weather and winds that blew in Saturday at Wrigley Field created an all-too-familiar setting for the Chicago Cubs, one unconducive to offensive outbursts.
So, what’s the key to creating runs and trying to win games in which the pitcher has even more of an advantage than usual?
“Baseball is sequential, and offense is sequential where you have to string together, and it has to be a line of consistent at-bats,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said before their 4-3, 11-inning loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. “You can’t have one good at-bat and then one at-bat that’s empty. That’s how you’re going to score runs. On days when it’s difficult for the home run to be a part of your offense, it’s even more important (for) sequential offense (to) happen.”
Saturday was the fifth home game of the year in which the wind was blowing in, and in those games, there has been an average of 6.6 runs scored by both teams. In three games in which the wind was blowing out, there have been 30 runs scored — 10 per game.
Saturday’s loss followed a script that’s become increasingly common for the Cubs early in the season — they generate plenty of scoring opportunities but fail to deliver the big hit or put up the crooked number in an inning. They were 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position and stranded 16 runners. In the first two games of the series, they are 1-for-23 (.043 average) with runners in scoring position with three runs scored and have left 27 runners on base.
The Cubs are hitting .242 with runners in scoring position this season, which is 16th in baseball, but they’re slugging .328 in those situations, the sixth-worst mark in the majors. They have seven extra-base hits with runners in scoring position, tied for the third fewest.
“It’s not fun right now when it doesn’t happen and when you feel like you have a ton of opportunities and get a run across,” Counsell said after the loss. “It’s going to turn. That’s the way you got to look at it. You miss opportunities as a hitter, and you’re mad at yourself. You want the pitch back, but it’ll turn.”
The Cubs will rue the extra-inning opportunities more than any other on Saturday.
They rallied from a 3-0 deficit with an Alex Bregman game-tying single with two outs in the ninth inning. In the 10th, closer Daniel Palencia pitched a scoreless frame to give the Cubs a chance to walk it off. The Cubs advanced the automatic runner, Ian Happ, to third on a two-out wild pitch, but Dansby Swanson grounded out with the bases loaded to extend the game.
Left-hander Caleb Thielbar appeared on his way to replicating Palencia’s success, striking out the first two hitters of the inning. The Cubs opted to intentionally walk the leadoff hitter, Oneil Cruz, who had three hits and three stolen bases in the game. Brandon Lowe hit a tapper in front of the plate that Thielbar fielded, turned and then short-hopped to first baseman Matt Shaw — who had pinch run for Carson Kelly in the ninth inning — to allow the winning run to score. It was Shaw’s first time — in either the professional ranks or college baseball, playing the position.
“I fielded it nice, came out of the glove nice, and I turned and threw it to the wrong person,” Thielbar said after the game. “It makes me sick. I mean, these guys battled back. (Starter Edward Cabrera) gave us five innings without his best stuff and he gave us a chance to win, and it just makes me sick to throw it away on a play like that.”
But the Cubs’ offensive woes plagued them more than a misthrow from their reliever.
Pirates pitcher Yohan Ramírez made a throwing error of his own to lead off the bottom of the 11th, putting the winning run in scoring position. Shaw lined out to right field, Bregman popped out into foul territory and, after Ian Happ was intentionally walked, Seiya Suzuki also popped out in foul territory to end the game.
“Yeah, definitely frustrating,” Bregman said. “We just got to execute better and play better, and we will. It’ll turn. We just got to keep fighting the fight.”
The Cubs bats were stymied for much of the afternoon by Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft, who struck out a career-high nine batters. The Pirates, meanwhile, capitalized on some command issues from Cabrera, who surrendered his first runs with his new team, snapping a 19 2/3 scoreless-innings streak that dated to last season when he was with the Miami Marlins. Cabrera walked three and allowed eight hits in five innings.
“I can’t say it was the cold,” Cabrera said in Spanish of his command. “These are things that happen. It’s not going to be the last game where that happens. I think I have a lot of time left as a baseball player, and these are things that are just going to happen. When that happens, I have to stay mentally strong. It happened, turn the page.”
The Cubs chipped away at the 3-0 deficit late into Ashcraft’s start. Nico Hoerner delivered the first run of the game on a groundout with runners at second and third.
Swanson grounded out to shortstop with runners on second and third and no outs in the seventh to make it a one-run game, but Hoerner grounded out and Kelly popped out to first to strand Michael Conforto at third.
Another day of failed execution with runners in scoring position spoiled a potential morale-boosting, early-season win for the Cubs.
“We’re all, every single day, getting after it, trying to turn it,” Bregman said. “I feel like over the course of 162, the cream will rise to the top and we’ll play good baseball. We haven’t done that so far. We know we’re capable of playing way better than we’ve played. You just got to execute better in those situations.”
Andy Martinez is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
