Cubs fall to Angels, sink to season-low nine games under .500 |
LOS ANGELES - Despite playing in one of the worst, if not the worst, division in baseball, the Chicago Cubs (26-35) aren't doing themselves any favors as they have sunk to a season-low nine games under .500 and have their season on the brink. When you look at the definition of insanity in the dictionary, the Cubs picture would be next to it as they do the same things over and over again, only to have the same results.
At some point, you need to make a move or change something up, or the results will continue to be ugly. After dropping their series opener with Los Angeles Angeles (33-30), the Cubs turned to Jameson Taillon with the hopes of evening things up. Coming off his best start of the season last time out, Taillon was off to another great start and had the Cubs tied 2-2 after five. Tuesday saw the fifth inning as the Cubs demise, with Wednesday being the sixth inning as the Angels used another four-run inning against the Cubs to pull away and take game two 6-2. Taillon finished the day with 5 1/3 innings under his belt and four runs allowed. He walked a season-high four and struck out five as he continues to fight through the worst start of his career. Opposing Taillon was Jaime Barria, who was on top of his game. Barria gave the Angels five innings and allowed two runs on three hits with three strikeouts. Both runs came in one inning, as did the hits as he turned things over to the pen in the sixth. Not only did the pen keep the Cubs off the board, but they didn't allow a hit as the Cubs finished the game with three hits. I don't care who you are, it is hard to win a game with three hits, and the Cubs offense is flat-out broken right now, and there aren't many options on how to fix it. Pitching was the strong suit across the first three innings as both starters held their opposition scoreless. Taillon did allow a double to Shohei Otani in the first while also putting runners on base via the walk, but most importantly, he found ways to pitch out of trouble. Barria was much better and didn't give the Cubs much of anything through four. With the game tied 0-0 entering the bottom of the fourth, Mike Trout ended that as his 14th homer of the season gave the Angels the 1-0 lead. Even with plenty of games left, you had to think one run would be enough, especially considering how Barria was pitching early on. It may have taken the Cubs five innings to get going, but once Mike Tauchman picked up their first hit with a leadoff single, you could see the weight come off their shoulders. That single was followed by a Trey Mancini double, and just like that, things were tied 1-1. The Cubs continued their sudden hitting barrage with a Miguel Amaya single as Mancini raced around third to score and make things 2-1. Not only were those the only runs of the game for the Cubs, but they were the only hits as the Angels pitching shut them down the rest of the way. Trailing for the first and only time in the ballgame, Luis Rengifo quickly ended that as he led off the bottom of the fifth with a long homer and brought things back to even 2-2. Rengifo was just getting started and came through with a clutch hit later on. The turning point in the game came in the sixth inning, and not in a good way for the Cubs. Not only did Dansby Swanson work a one-out walk, but the Cubs would ultimately load the bases on walks and had their first significant scoring chance to bust things open. Per the usual, they didn't do anything with that chance as Mancini grounded out to end the frame and sent the game to the bottom half of the sixth 2-2. Looking to get through six innings for his longest outing of the season, Taillon retired Anthony Rendon to begin the frame before a walk to Matt Thaiss and a single from Brandon Drury ended his day, with Mark Leiter Jr coming on to finish things off. Once the most consistent pitcher in the pen for the Cubs, Leiter Jr has been struggling of late, and that continued Wednesday as he allowed the game-winning single to Rengifo with two outs in the sixth to put the Angels in front 3-2. Following a Zach Neto walk to load the bases, Mickey Moniak came through with the biggest hit of the night as he cleared the bases for an RBI double which put the Angels up 6-2. Those may have been the last of the runs for the Halos, but given what the Cubs offense did up to this point, a four-run coupon could have been 10. The recently promoted Michael Rucker worked a dominating seventh inning before returning to pitch the eighth. Added to the roster after Edwin Rios went on the IL, Rucker tip-toed a tight line in the eighth as he loaded the bases with two outs before getting Otani to ground out to end the frame. Down to their final three outs and in desperate need of runs, Sam Bachman made things look easy and retired the side not only in the ninth but also in the eighth as the Angels took another series from the Cubs 6-2. Chicago will look to salvage one game on Thursday when Drew Smyly takes the ball for David Ross.
