Morning Marquee: Chicago Cubs stumble in 8-4 loss to Pirates

With teams wrapping up the first half of the regular season, the Chicago Cubs found themselves in Pittsburgh. It has been awhile since the first-place North Siders had some time to enjoy a day off and it continued to show last night.

You see the picture above the article? Addison Russell represents what is going on with the Chicago Cubs over the past month or so. Things haven’t gone right and when they do  come through with clutch hits and grab a lead, something goes wrong.

This is something that every team in the league has or will deal with throughout the year. It doesn’t matter how good you are, as you could tell, the Cubs started out with the hottest record in baseball and now sit behind the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers with only two games remaining before the All-Star break.

Now let’s touch on a couple of notes from last night’s contest. Kris Bryant came through with a one-double in the first inning of the ballgame but Chicago was unable to capitalize despite Francisco Liriano standing on the mound.

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Pittsburgh’s pitching staff has struggled against the Cubs this year but it appeared as if the tables were turned on the visiting team. Joe Maddon‘s club failed to take advantage with runners on until late in the game when Miguel Montero tied things up with a two-run homer.

First baseman Anthony Rizzo later swatted his 21st big fly of the season which put his team ahead of their division rivals by the score of 4-3. It wouldn’t last long as the Pirates rallied with a four spot just 20 minutes later and even batted around on top of knocking Jake Arrieta out of the game.

Next: Cubs unable to prevent Pirates rally

We’re getting closer to Dexter Fowler‘s return, so things should definitely improve starting the weekend of July 15. And while this lineup holds some high batting averages, there is a chance that Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer could reach out and acquire another contact hitter.

On top of picking up another arm for its bullpen. A bullpen that has struggled and failed to maintain a lead. Tonight, Jon Lester will take the mound with a chance to silence Pittsburgh and end this four-game skid.