Cubs' offense falls flat against Rangers
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What were the Cubs' recent performances against the Rangers?
Rahimi Harrison-Grody. I don't want to break time. I want to yell at Marshall. Can we handle more Anthony Heron? Middays 10 to 2 on 104.3 The Score. Seah swings and misses and the ball game is over. And the Rangers, after losing the opener on Friday night, come back to win the series by beating the Cubs last night and today, both in impressive shutout fashion. The final today, three nothing Rangers.
Nothing? And then the day before? Nothing? Wait a second. That's not supposed to be how this goes. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grote on 104.3 The Score.
Why did the Cubs struggle with their offense in the series?
That was Pat Hughes on the Northwestern Medicine Cubs radio network. Rangers lose the first game. Cubs take game one in Texas, 7-1, but then fall 6-0 and 3-0 in back-to-back days on Saturday and Sunday. The Cubs are still doing very well for themselves. They just have cooled off a bit. But you don't want to see them cool off to the tune of back-to-back shutouts, Marshall.
Listen, it's one thing to have a rough day where, you know, the bats just aren't hitting. But I think here's what I believe happened. They had a situation where they had that rough day that I'm talking about on Saturday. And when you're on the road, you're playing against the Rangers, you're flying high with 10 straight losses, and then all of a sudden you come up with four hits. Four hits on the day. And... Jack Leiter did his job. Cabrera obviously did not do his job, giving up five runs in five innings.
Yeah, that's the biggest misstep we've seen out of him all season.
What impact did Jacob deGrom have on the Cubs' performance?
It was a rough day for him specifically. But for a Cubs team to have four hits, to get six walks, and then go 0-13 with runners in scoring position, that's one thing. But... Against a guy like Jacob deGrom, guess what? He can continue bad feelings in a hurry. You get three hits and only have four at-bats with runners in scoring position on a Sunday. And now all of a sudden, you're cold, cold. Because you look at what the top five people, or excuse me, two, three, and four did after a two-for-four day for Nico Horner, who was kind of scuffling a little bit. Nico was the only person who got in scoring position. To go 0-for-11 with nine strikeouts, two, three, four. That's tough. 0 for 11, 9 strikeouts between Moises Ballesteros, Seiya Suzuki, and Ian Happ, who's on base streak, came to a screeching halt at 30 games.
I think this was just one of those circumstances where you're not going to hit all the time. But when you have a pitcher of Jacob deGrom's caliber going up and you're already, as a team, not getting it done, that's a lot of opportunities with runners in scoring position not to push things across. It struck me as, all right, this is just kind of how it goes.
How did the Cubs' players perform with runners in scoring position?
This is going to be ups and downs. This was a down and a much appreciated, much needed, simply day off. Kind of hitting the reset button before you have to go to Atlanta.
Well, that's it, is reset the offense before you go to Atlanta. I think what we also saw is what this team looks like when the offense isn't hot, like we saw in the last 20 games before that. Ten straight wins, you lose three games, then another ten straight wins. That was a ridiculous clip. And you take it because it's money in the bank. But in the meantime... This is a lot of times what it comes down to when you're talking about a playoff game. You know, you're facing Jacob deGrom, and how are you going to manufacture at-bats? And he sees his best game since 2021. Yeah, the slider was outrageous at 92. Then he had that fastball up in the zone at 98. That was fooling hitters.
What signs of fatigue are showing in Edward Cabrera's pitching?
The plan was executed almost to perfection. Nico Horter was the one runner who was in scoring position in two opportunities all day. He's the only guy who got to second. That's one where you take it on the chin, but you're right, Marshall. The Saturday game was more concerning, not just from a they didn't get runners across the plate, but also is Edward Cabrera starting to show signs of fatigue that he had last year?
Could he be going through a dead arm period? I know his velocity was down, and so you wonder if this is just, hey, this is that time of the season.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What were the Cubs' recent performances against the Rangers?
0:01–0:49
2
Why did the Cubs struggle with their offense in the series?
0:49–1:48
3
What impact did Jacob deGrom have on the Cubs' performance?
1:48–3:04
4
How did the Cubs' players perform with runners in scoring position?
3:04–3:57
5
What signs of fatigue are showing in Edward Cabrera's pitching?
3:57–5:38
6
How can the Cubs reset their offense before facing the Braves?
5:38–6:39
7
What challenges lie ahead for the Cubs in upcoming series?
6:39–7:34
8
How does the Cubs' current standing compare to other teams in the league?
7:34–9:15
Speakers
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