Chicago Cubs: Struggling offense lets down pitching staff in loss

Cole Hamels continued his run of brilliance on the mound last night but it was all for not as the Chicago Cubs offense only managed one run that came on the first pitch of the game.

After Kyle Schwarber led off the Chicago Cubs bottom of the first inning with a line-drive home run to left field on the first pitch he saw you pretty much could have stopped watching after that. At least, if you were hoping to see some offense because that’s all the Cubs could muster in their 3-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

This was the second time in his last five games that Schwarber hit the first pitch he saw for a home run, but the Cubs need so much more than that. The rest of the game they only managed to record five more hits, three of which came from Kris Bryant alone. As a team, five of the Cubs starters didn’t record a hit in the game.

The Cubs rarely threatened as they only hit with runners in scoring position on two occasions. Javier Baez was the only Cub to make it to third base in the sixth inning when he went from first to third on a single from Jason Heyward. The team just showed little fight all night long as they went down in order four different times.

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I mean, it’s not like the Cubs were facing Jacob deGrom and had a bad night, they were facing Ivan Nova. Nova is arguably having his worst season as a big leaguer as he carries a career-high 6.01 ERA. The right-hander has also allowed the most hits in all of baseball with 107. Plain and simple the Cubs need to score more than one run off a guy like that.

While the offense went even deeper into its slump, Cole Hamels was dominant over his seven innings of work. He surrendered just one run on six hits and two walks while striking out eight batters.

He initially started the game off shaky, as he allowed three of the first four batters to reach, which loaded the bases. But Hamels got Eloy Jimenez to ground into an inning-ending double play to escape without giving up a run.

This loss doesn’t fall on the Cubs pitching staff

Hamels really settled in from there as over the course of the next four innings he retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced, allowing just an infield single. Over that time, Hamels also made history as he became just the 10th left-handed pitcher of all-time to record 2,500 strikeouts when he caught Nova looking in the third inning.

The White Sox finally got to Hamels in the sixth to tie the game. Leury Garcia led off the frame with a double and Tim Anderson followed that up with a ground ball to Javier Baez who made an errant throw to first, allowing Garcia to score from second.

Following a 1-2-3 inning from Brandon Kintzler in the eighth, the Cubs turned to Pedro Strop in the ninth to keep the game tied. Unfortunately, it was not Strop’s night.

James McCann led off the inning with a single to center field and Jimenez followed that up with a two-run blast to left field that would win the White Sox the game. On both hits, it looked like Strop missed badly with his location and the White Sox hitters capitalized.

Now for whatever reason, it seemed like many people were quick to throw Strop under the bus for the loss as they have repeatedly done so in the past. People were quick to ask for Craig Kimbrel in that spot and say we wouldn’t have lost if we called him up already. Frankly, I just don’t get it.

This loss is not on Strop and it wouldn’t have been on any pitcher that gave up the lead last night. This loss lies solely on the offense’s shoulders for not producing more than a single run. All of the Cubs production came on the very first pitch of the game and they failed to do anything else the rest of the way. That simply cannot happen.

While it’s still just one loss, this Cubs team has been known to go into dreadful slumps like these and it needs to stop. Hopefully, they regroup at the plate because it sure doesn’t get any easier tonight as they have to face arguably the best pitcher in baseball, Lucas Giolito.