SAN FRANCISCO — The Chicago Cubs keep finding excruciating ways to lose. The lack of star power continues to show up in these one-run games. The offense doesn’t have a true middle-of-the-order slugger to bludgeon the opponent. The bullpen doesn’t have a dominant closer with an entrance song that screams game over. And even when Justin Steele pitches like an ace, other things go wrong.
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The Cubs already squandered one Cy Young Award-caliber season from Steele, finishing one win short of last year’s playoffs. Keeping most of the same team intact under a new manager hasn’t made a difference. If anything, watching the same game over and over has exposed the organization’s weaknesses.
A late-night quiet blanketed Oracle Park’s visiting clubhouse after Monday’s 5-4 walk-off loss to the San Francisco Giants. Several players sat silently in their chairs, staring straight ahead into a locker or looking down at their phones. Add this one to the running list of games that will doom the Cubs if another season ends with 83 wins when 84 is good enough to make the playoffs.
The rut the Cubs are in right now can be viewed two ways: A strong rotation fronted by Steele can lead them out of it by giving them a chance to win virtually every night. Or the team has wasted a great run of starting pitching, digging a hole that will be difficult, if not impossible, to escape.
“They don’t hand out wins,” Steele said after allowing only two runs in 7 1/3 innings, controlling most of the game only to watch the bullpen’s 17th blown save.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell indicated that Héctor Neris was available, though Neris is clearly no longer viewed as the default closer. Colten Brewer opened the ninth inning by giving up a bloop hit that Matt Chapman turned into a hustle double when Pete Crow-Armstrong couldn’t make a spectacular catch in center field. Thairo Estrada’s perfectly placed bunt then wound up as a hit. After a sacrifice fly, Counsell brought in lefty Drew Smyly to protect a one-run lead.
Smyly got a groundball against pinch-hitter Patrick Bailey, but it bounced through for a hit. Smyly then walked San Francisco’s No. 9 hitter, Nick Ahmed, before another sacrifice fly tied the game. The Cubs intentionally walked Heliot Ramos, a move that loaded the bases for Wilmer Flores, who drew a five-pitch walk against Smyly to force in the winning run.
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“We’re all just trying to figure it out, patch it together,” Smyly said.
Counsell’s bullpen decisions might have looked different if Seiya Suzuki didn’t miss another flyball in right field, which ended Steele’s night. Counsell brought in Tyson Miller, a trusted high-leverage reliever, to put out that fire in the eighth inning. The Cubs also scored only four runs while generating 10 hits and seven walks, leaving 12 runners stranded. No one asks about the pitcher in the ninth inning of a blowout game.
“There’s no question we left runs on the bases,” Counsell said. “We could have had five, six, seven on the board by just moving the ball forward, and didn’t do it. We got to do better at that. That was a game that we should have broken open. That cost us.”
Bad luck and poor timing haven’t stopped Steele’s development into a frontline starter. The lefty has added more wrinkles to his fastball/slider combination, occasionally mixing in a changeup and a curveball to keep hitters guessing. This is no longer a pitcher trying to find his identity or a young player hoping to show he belongs.
The big Steele question heading into this season revolved around whether he could do it again. Another All-Star selection became unlikely as soon as he went down with a strained left hamstring on Opening Day, an injury that sidelined him for more than a month. Breakdowns in other phases of the game have left him with zero wins through his first 11 starts, which is hard to believe considering he gave up two earned runs or fewer in eight of those outings.
Momentum is supposed to begin with the next day’s starting pitcher, but an unreliable bullpen and a low-scoring offense have repeatedly undermined this team. Combined, Steele, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad and Ben Brown have posted a 2.97 ERA in 61 starts. Yet the Cubs (37-42) have still sunk to five games under .500, making the idea of a hot streak seem more and more elusive.
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“You’re going to have ups and downs,” Steele said. “There’s a bunch of different things that each unit is going to battle over the course of the season. I feel like they’re doing a hell of a job down there (in the bullpen). This game isn’t easy. Hitters always say pitchers drive nice cars, too. And pitchers all say hitters drive nice cars, too, because both sides are really talented. This is the big leagues. Any inch you give, teams are going to take a mile.”
(Photo: Brandon Vallance / Getty Images)