One out from completing a perfect first turn through the Guardians batting order, Marcus Stroman made a rare mistake — a walk to No. 9 hitter Bo Naylor — and was punished for it. Amed Rosario ripped a two-out, two-run single two batters later to put Cleveland up in the third.
One out from Stroman completing six strong innings, the wheels fell off entirely for the Cubs (38-43) in a 6-0 loss; the fifth defeat in their last six games.
Andres Giménez ended Stroman’s night with an RBI single to right. And rather than stop the bleeding there, both of Stroman’s inherited runners scored on back-to-back singles off reliever Julian Merryweather; the latter of which snuck under Cody Bellinger’s glove in center for a run-scoring error as the game sailed out of reach.
In between those outbursts, fans who waited through a two-hour and forty-five minute rain delay at Wrigley Field saw very little strung together, or driven in the air, by the Cubs’ offense.
Talented rookie Tanner Bibee matched a career-high with nine strikeouts over 5 2/3 scoreless innings. Just as confounding, a would-be Bellinger fly out to left-center that dropped due to a defensive miscommunication in the second and Jared Young’s lineout to right to strand two runners in the fourth registered as the only Cubs batted balls that made it to the outfield on the fly against the Cleveland starter.
After a 10-run outburst against Cal Quantrill and company on Friday, the Cubs offensive struggles against right-handed pitching resurfaced. All of their five hits on the night came from the left side of the plate.
By OPS, the Cubs entered Saturday night 17th in baseball against right-handed pitching, and 39 points worse than they fare against southpaws. Almost all of that platoon split is accounted for by lesser power production against righties.
Before the game, manager David Ross acknowledged the Cubs’ lineup is not suited to out-slug the opposition on most nights, but needs timely hitting to take advantage of the fifth-best on-base percentage in the National League.
On Saturday night, Cubs hitters went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Charged with five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings, Stroman’s ERA rose to 2.76; eighth-best among qualified starters in MLB. Adding a pair of singles to his bloop double, Bellinger had the only Cubs multi-hit performance and extended his active hitting streak to seven games.