Wins for the Chicago Cubs are currently in hibernation.
Tuesday’s 12-1 road loss to the Pirates marked the Cubs’ 10th straight setback, with both the pitching and offense struggling at PNC Park to send the streak to double digits.
Manager Craig Counsell is fed up with the inconsistent batting his team has displayed in this stretch, with Chicago scoring no more than three runs in eight of the games.
“Somebody has got to step up and get a big hit in big spots,” Counsell said. “There’s not much more to say after that. You’ve got to conduct a big league professional at-bat at some point. Those are the at-bats you should want during a game, those at-bats that can make a difference.”
The Cubs have twice been shut out in this stretch and scored one run in each of the last two games of this four-game set in Pittsburgh.
Some of the team’s top hitters like Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki and Pete-Crow Armstrong each have a batting average of less than .170 in this 0-10 skid.
Only infielders Alex Bregman and Michael Busch have been consistent sources of offense.
The Cubs had plenty of chances to score more than one run Tuesday, but they went just 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 runners.
These struggles recently show how quickly a team can cool off.
The Cubs have twice accumulated 10-game winning streaks this campaign, doing so from April 14-24 and later from April 28 to May 8, with those streaks accounting for 20 of their 29 wins this season.
They have since lost 14 of 16.
Before this losing streak, Chicago stood atop the NL Central with a 29-16 record.
They now are tied for last with the Pirates in MLB’s only division featuring five teams with winning records.
While the losing streak has raised question marks about a possible postseason appearance, the Cubs just sit a single game out of the third Wild-Card spot.
Earlier this season, the Cubs showed they could play at a high level.
But Counsell, his staff and players now need to find a way to recapture that magic or this season could quickly spiral out of control.
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