Houston took an early lead with a two-run homer by Christian Walker in the top of the first inning. Chicago starter Colin Rea allowed the damage, while Astros starter Kai-Wei Teng limited the Cubs to two hits over six scoreless innings. Walker hit another solo homer in the top of the fourth, extending the Astros’ advantage to 3-0. The Cubs never threatened after falling behind immediately, and they failed to create scoring opportunities. Chicago had no issues with hitting when runners were in scoring position because there were no such at-bats. The Cubs managed only three singles, including one on a dropped infield pop-up, and dropped the game for a seventh straight loss.
"Houston took an early lead when Christian Walker hit a two-run homer against Colin Rea in the top of the 1st inning. Chicago had no answers for starter Kai-Wei Teng, who allowed only two hits in six scoreless frames. Walker added a solo homer in the top of the 4th to increase the Astros' advantage to 3-0. The North Siders never even threatened the rest of the way, dropping the game and a fifth consecutive series."
"Key Moment The Cubs fell behind immediately, which has been a huge problem during this entire stretch of bad play. Why the Cubs Lost They did not have any issues hitting with runners in scoring position because they did not get any such at-bats. Not surprisingly, they were unable to score with so little action on the bases."
"Stats That Matter Rea did a pretty good job against everyone outside of Walker: 7 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 4 K, and 3 BB. Chicago had just three singles, and one came on a dropped infield pop-up. Bottom Line Craig Counsell shook up the lineup, but the results did not change at all."
"Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet to turn things around, no brilliant managerial strategy that will cause an offensive explosion. The hitters on the roster have to start performing like they did less than a month ago. If they don't do that, there is nothing that will stop this current nosedive. On Deck Chicago tries to salvage the final game of the series and avoid consecutive sweeps on Sunday at 1:20pm CT."
Read at Cubsinsider
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]