Chicago Cubs come up on the short end of a 6-1 loss

Chicago Cubs have no answers for the Pittsburgh Pirates as they fall, 6-1.

Now that Chicago Cubs‘ starter Kyle Hendricks got another tough start out of the way, he can start pitching as he should. And to be honest, this wasn’t all that bad an outing. But the three solo home runs allowed would have been enough to beat the Cubs. Nevermind that they added three more runs after the fact.

Hendricks hung in there, but the three long balls did damage enough. He got through six innings, striking out seven and walking three. When Hendricks wasn’t that bad, he missed over the plate on–well, three instances–and cost the Cubs in the long run.

Scwharber find his stroke

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For the Cubs’ Kyle Schwarber, he found his stroke after having the night off. Schwarber connected on a pitch to left field, tying the game at 1-1. He also managed to beat the shift on two other occasions by lining the ball down the left field line. But other than the home run, Schwarber was left standing on base each time.

For Placido Polanco, he might just be coming into his own with the Pirates. While he did strike out three times, he connected on two solo homers that carried him to two RBI on the day.

Oh no, Wilson

The Cubs’ Justin Wilson came in, and it seemed to have a bad look on it. After walking two, Jim Hickey came out to have a word with Wilson. After one strike, he fired in another one. Unfortunately, Francisco Cervelli timed up the next one for a three-run blast.

The Cubs just can’t seem to get off this rut that they’re in. They win one; they lose one. It’s a tough route the Cubs are on, but it’s one that they might need to simply push through. They look really good for a game, then follow it with a dud the next one.

Next: Maddon happy the Cubs have his team's back

The Cubs will take on the Atlanta Braves starting tomorrow at 1:20 p.m. CT. The Braves will go with Anibal Sanchez (0-0, 2.25), while the Cubs will send out Yu Darvish (0-0, 5.23). We’ll have more coverage tonight, as well as the season preview tomorrow afternoon.