Cubs Slide Continues, Pirates Cruise to Win

I’ll be honest, it’s getting difficult to describe these losses. It’s getting difficult to watch these losses. It’s also hard to understand how the Cubs can possibly even be in a slide like this. Well folks, this is real and, yes, it sucks. The Cubs got absolutely crushed on Saturday by the Pirates 12-6 (Box Score).

Jon Lester (9-4, 3.01 ERA) only lasted three innings and for as bad as he was, Adam Warren was even worse.

Anthony Rizzo, Willson Contreras and Jason Heyward all had solid nights for the Cubs. Joe has got to stop putting Tommy La Stella in the lead-off position. He didn’t have one hit, again, batting lead-off and he struck out three times. Ben Zobrist is the better fit.

Stats that mattered

• Lester forgot how to pitch – 3.0IP, 5R, 4H, 3BB, 3Ks, 2HR
• Warren forgot how to pitch – 2.0IP, 7R, 5H, 3BB, 2Ks, 2HR
• Willson Contreras is the lone bright spot and will be there to build momentum around in the second half – 2-for-4, 1R, 1RBI, 1BB

Bottom line

The Chicago Cubs (52-35), who earlier in the year couldn’t lose a game if they tried, are now marred in a slump where winning seems impossible. From night to night it’s the same old story, bad starting pitching, bad relief pitching, poor situational hitting, bad fielding, mental errors, and more. It’s as if someone issued a challenge to them saying they couldn’t be bad if they tried.

To be sure, we’ve seen two vastly different sides to this team. Quite frankly, if it hasn’t happened yet, Joe Maddon or someone on the team needs to call a team meeting and the guys need to talk openly about what is happening. I realize that Joe likes to be hands-off but this clearly calls for intervention.

Things will turn around for this team. And when they do, they will become a wrecking ball because they now know a) what losing a lot feels like and b) that they don’t ever want to visit this dark place again.

Next up

The Cubs play the Pirates at 12:35 PM CDT in their last game before the all-star break. John Lackey will take the mound for the Cubs.