Boos rose from the crowd as Cubs star Kyle Tucker grounded out to second to start the sixth inning, then erupted again when he flew out to left field to end the eighth.
“The fans are frustrated, and Kyle’s frustrated,” manager Craig Counsell said after Monday’s 7-0 loss to the Brewers. “And it’s unfortunate, because when you make outs, it doesn’t look great, but he’s trying. It’s not clicking.”
Tucker, who has recorded just four extra-base hits since early July, bore the brunt of the fans’ ire. But the frustration extends beyond him.
The Cubs (70-54) have fallen nine games behind the Brewers (79-45), who lead the NL Central with the MLB’s best record. A stubborn offensive slump has been a key factor in Chicago’s struggles.
“The Brewers have played brilliantly,” Counsell said before the game. “It’s made our position in the division kind of unfortunate compared to the others. But we’ve got a very good baseball team here. The major-league season is a great test—you prove yourself over 162 games. You can’t fool people over that stretch.”
Since early August, the Cubs have gone 7-8 in games against teams other than the Brewers, while Milwaukee went on a 14-game winning streak that only ended Sunday against the Reds.
“Right now, we’re not scoring enough,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said Monday. “And because of that, those one-run games are coin flips. You never know when a hot streak starts or a cold streak ends. You have to come to the ballpark optimistic every day that we’ll start scoring. We have one of the best position-playing groups in baseball, offensively and defensively.”
Monday’s game turned into one of Chicago’s worst offensive performances of the season before thunderstorms wiped out the second game of the doubleheader. The Cubs managed only two hits, tied for a season low. Only one came off Brewers starter Fredy Peralta—a first-inning single up the middle by Seiya Suzuki. The other was rookie Owen Caissie’s first major-league hit, a line-drive single into shallow left-center off reliever Abner Uribe in the seventh.
Peralta did show vulnerability in the fourth inning, issuing three consecutive one-out walks to load the bases. The Cubs failed to capitalize.
Caissie struck out chasing a pitch far out of the zone, leaving Nico Hoerner, the team’s go-to hitter with runners in scoring position, to step up. The outfield ribbon boards displayed Hoerner’s impressive career numbers with the bases loaded: .298 batting average, .364 on-base, .404 slugging, .767 OPS.
He lined a changeup to right field—but Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick made the catch.
The Brewers found themselves in a similar situation in the eighth, this time against Cubs reliever Gavin Hollowell. They capitalized on three consecutive one-out walks, squeezing out a four-run rally.
“When you’re trailing another team, there’s nothing you want more than to play them head to head,” Hoerner said before the game. “They’ve been on an impressive run for an extended time. It’s also just a test to see where we are at this point in the season.”
Unfortunately for the Cubs, they failed the first test.
Counsell had planned to give Tucker the day off for Game 2, but weather intervened and forced both teams to rest.
“We’re going to have to take a little step back here, give him some days off to reset him,” Counsell said. “He’s frustrated, we’re not coming up with solutions for him, and he’s not coming up with solutions. Sometimes you have to step back to move forward again.”
With the rainout, perhaps the break comes at the perfect time. Tucker isn’t the only Cubs hitter in need of a reset.
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