The Chicago Cubs can solely hope a day without work and a return dwelling present a reset.
After a 2-7 journey to Minnesota, Houston and Philadelphia that featured blowouts and demoralizing losses, the Cubs should regroup forward of a pivotal homestand. They returned to Chicago on Sunday evening sitting fourth within the division, one recreation forward of the last-place Cincinnati Reds, who come to Wrigley Field this weekend for a three-game sequence.
“Realistically, we’ve just got to be better,” shortstop Dansby Swanson stated after Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Phillies. “If you wish to compete on this league constantly, you’ve received to play effectively and also you’ve received to arrange effectively.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to be better and we will. We’ve got a lot of great players in here, a lot of great track records. It’s just a matter of coming together at the right time.”
Here are three numbers that outline the Cubs’ ugly highway journey.
1. The pitching employees’s 7.51 ERA
When it wasn’t somebody within the rotation struggling to get via a begin, it was the bullpen imploding.
Cubs starters have been a energy a lot of the season, however there have been too many clunkers on the journey. Marcus Stroman, Justin Steele and Jameson Taillon every produced their worst begins of the season. Hayden Wesneski received roughed up, too, in Minnesota earlier than the Cubs optioned him to Triple-A Iowa with two days off forward and Kyle Hendricks’ return impending throughout the upcoming homestand.
Only left-hander Drew Smyly tossed two high quality begins, posting a 2.25 ERA and .182 common in opposition to to proceed an incredible begin to his season. The Cubs rotation’s 6.45 ERA on the journey wasn’t what they wanted in opposition to three high quality groups, together with the 2 reigning pennant winners.
And when a starter did place them for a win, the bullpen struggled to lock down the opposing lineup. Cubs relievers mixed for a minus-27 run differential. The Twins beat up on the Cubs specifically, scoring probably the most runs in Target Field historical past over a three-game span.
If the Cubs are going to climate the offense’s inconsistencies, they want extra from their bullpen. They have wasted in any other case sturdy numbers from the rotation via the primary seven weeks.
2. Christopher Morel’s 7 dwelling runs
There are sizzling streaks in baseball, after which there’s the human torch, Christopher Morel.
Since the Cubs recalled Morel from Iowa, the 23-year-old Dominican has slugged eight dwelling runs in his first 11 video games of the season — one thing solely three different gamers have finished since 1900. Morel joins Phillies Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt (9, 1976), the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Luis Gonzalez (9, 2001) and the Reds’ Aristides Aquino (eight, 2019).
Seven of the homers got here on the nine-game journey, and Morel’s solo homer within the ninth Sunday prevented them from getting shut out for the primary time in 2023. It’s a outstanding feat for Morel, who retains slugging no matter the place supervisor David Ross places him within the lineup.
The Cubs are keen to take the great (offensive firepower) with the unhealthy (shaky protection) in terms of Morel. Right now his efficiency on the plate has made up for defensive miscues.
“Christopher is far from a finished product when it comes to plate discipline and what he understands that he can handle,” hitting coach Dustin Kelly stated. “We’re never going to take the aggressiveness away from him. You have to live with the swing and miss for him. … As he gets more comfortable, he’s going to get better and better at eliminating pitches.”
3. A .203 common with runners in scoring place
It has turned a well-known end result for the offense.
The Cubs have proven they will get runners on base. But the large hits proceed to elude them after the lineup was in sync via the primary three weeks.
Ross, Kelly and gamers preserve highlighting the positives of how they can get on base. It hasn’t helped flip issues round, although, as runs have been at a premium in losses in Houston and Sunday at Citizens Bank Park.
The Cubs imagine sticking to their total strategy ultimately will yield the manufacturing they anticipate. The highway journey once more represented the precariousness of their run-scoring capacity, particularly when the margin for error by the pitching employees stays so small.
“We have an old enough and a seasoned enough group to where there hasn’t been any pressure,” Kelly stated. “I believe all of them perceive that these moments and people conditions come up as a result of we’re hitting staff. We’re going to have guys on base and so they’re going to get these alternatives. They all need these alternatives.
”If they go up there with their plan, they get their pitch to hit and so they put the barrel on it, you’ll be able to’t actually management it exterior of that. I believe there was somewhat little bit of unhealthy luck, however that group in there’s so, so veteran that it doesn’t get to them as a lot.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com