The Chicago Cubs are used to good things happening when Seiya Suzuki and Pete Crow-Armstrong go deep in the same game.
The Cubs went 8-0 last year when both players homered, and while Suzuki and Crow-Armstrong haven’t had the offensive starts they wanted in 2026, they delivered home runs in consecutive innings Wednesday night against the Athletics.
It was a jolt the Cubs needed — but nothing is coming easy to them. As has occurred too often in the last month, the Cubs were shut out over the final six innings of a rough 5-4 loss in 10 innings at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs (32-30) haven’t won a series since May 4-7, when they swept the Cincinnati Reds. Since then they’ve lost seven series, getting swept twice, and split one four-game series. They’ve gone 5-18 after a 20-3 stretch.
“We’re not playing well enough to win a lot of baseball games,” manager Craig Counsell said. “You have to earn it, and we’re not earning it. I mean, it’s not some string of massive bad luck. We’re not earning wins, flat out.
“So winning series, just putting good baseball together, we’ve got to do it. The trajectory of the season is, it’s already been an odd season in terms of the streaks. We know that. But we’re just not playing good enough baseball to win games.”
The Cubs, who have lost eight consecutive games at Wrigley, had been 26-0 when leading after seven innings this season. Typically reliable left-hander Caleb Thielbar was tagged for two runs in the eighth, and the A’s brought home the extra-innings runner in the 10th off right-hander Ethan Roberts.
The Cubs had two chances to tie after pinch runner Kevin Alcántara advanced to third on Nico Hoerner’s deep flyout to center for the first out in the bottom of the 10th.
Crow-Armstrong struck out on reliever Justin Sterner’s full-count curveball, and Alex Bregman, after fouling off two pitches he couldn’t keep fair down the left-field line, lined out to right to end the game.
“We just didn’t put together enough quality at-bats back-to-back against the pen,” Bregman said. “Thought we did a good job against the starter (Jeffrey Springs) but not enough down the stretch.
“Everybody shows up every single day to get after it and to work at their craft and to get better and to compete, and we just haven’t been executing. It comes down to a lack of execution, and all of us have to be better in here. It starts with me.”
Right-hander Colin Rea did his part, limiting the A’s to two runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings. Suzuki’s solo homer in the second and Crow-Armstrong’s two-run homer in the third quickly erased the A’s 2-0 lead. Suzuki went 92 plate appearances between home runs, last hitting one May 8.
“I mean, I’m trying to be consistent at the plate,” Suzuki said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “It’s been a while, but I’m glad it happened today and hopefully I can keep that consistency in there.”
With 100 games left in the regular season, the Cubs can maintain a big-picture approach and believe they have enough time to turn things around and accomplish their goals. The longer this bad streak continues, however, the runway to escape the skid diminishes.
If they can avoid a sweep by the A’s on Thursday, the Cubs play 12 straight games against the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies, whose .387 and .381 winning percentages are the two worst in the National League.
There isn’t any special formula to get the Cubs out of this offensive rut. They remain confident their production will turn and are focusing on the positives, even if it feels like there aren’t many at the moment.
“When the group as a whole is struggling and you’re feeling it, it’s a tough place to be,” said Ian Happ, who collected his 1,000th career hit in the loss. “Everybody wants to get the job done, everybody wants to come through and help out, and putting more pressure on never helps. I have all the faith in the world in this lineup and this offense, and we’ll help this pitching staff out over the course of the year. We’re going to get it rolling, and once it clicks, it’ll click.
“Playing as well as we did early has given us a cushion to weather this. You play poorly early and you have this and the season’s over, so we’re not in that spot at all. We’re totally fine. It’s about tomorrow.”
