Look at it this way. At least the Cubs scored some runs in this game.
Not enough runs, as they lost to the Braves 5-2 in the series opener in Atlanta.
Colin Rea and Grant Holmes matched zeroes through two innings, and the Cubs failed to score in the top of the third. The Braves got on the board in the bottom of that inning on a single by Dominic Smith (who you might remember from a brief appearance as a Cub in Spring Training 2024), a ground out advancing him and an RBI single by Mike Yastrzemski.
The Cubs took the lead in the top of the fourth. With one out, Alex Bregman challenged a pitch and was incorrect. That was the Cubs’ second wrong challenge of the game, and I’ll get to the other one later.
That didn’t hurt Bregman’s at-bat, as he smacked his fourth homer of the year, making it 1-1 [VIDEO].
So that was good. It broke a 23-inning scoreless streak for the Cubs and was Bregman’s first home run since April 24, a span of 62 plate appearances. As it would turn out, that was the Cubs’ only hit.
Perhaps that homer rattled Holmes, as he walked the next three hitters, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki and Michael Busch. So the Cubs had the bases loaded with one out. This is exactly where a team has to go for it, this is an excellent scoring opportunity, especially for a team that’s had trouble scoring recently.
Instead, they got only one more run, when Moisés Ballesteros beat a double-play relay [VIDEO].
So the Cubs had a 2-1 lead going to the bottom of the fourth, and Rea had been dealing, but that ended in the Atlanta half of the inning, which included home runs by two players (Austin Riley and Yastrzemski) who both came into the game with BA’s below .213. For Yastrzemski, it was his first home run of the season in more than 125 plate appearances.
With the score 4-2 due to the homers, Ryan Rolison relieved Rea with two runners on and one out and allowed an RBI single to Matt Olson, making it 5-2.
And that, basically, was that. Cubs relievers (Rolison, Jacob Webb and Trent Thornton) threw 3.2 shutout innings with four strikeouts. Braves relievers threw five no-hit innings and allowed one further baserunner after the fourth (a one-out walk by Nico Hoerner in the fifth).
The Cubs did flash some glove in this game or the score might have been worse.
Pete Crow-Armstrong with a great running catch to end the second inning [VIDEO].
Nico with a nice diving stop in the third [VIDEO].
And two pickoffs, one by Rea and this one by Rolison in the fifth [VIDEO].
Now I’d like to talk a bit about the Cubs’ first ABS challenge of the game, made by Ballesteros in the first inning. Here’s the situation and pitch [VIDEO].
That’s the ninth pitch of the game. There’s nobody on base, the game is scoreless and there’s one out. As Jim Deshaies said after Ballesteros was wrong on that one, if you’re going to challenge in that situation, you have to be really, really sure that you’re right. The pitch was close but it wasn’t that close. Now, the lack of challenges didn’t really have any impact on the result of this game, but this should be a learning experience for the young catcher. Ballesteros had two good challenge games in Spring Training, but… this is a different story.
More on the Cubs getting just one hit, from BCB’s JohnW53:
The Cubs had been held to one hit in 68 previously games since 1901, most recently Sept 18 of last year, in a 1-0 loss at Cincinnati.
They had scored two runs in five of the 68, winning the first three, vs. the Dodgers at home in 1902 (2-0), at St. Louis in 1908 (2-0) and at home vs. the Reds in 1937 (2-1). They also beat the Dodgers at home, 3-2, in 1914.
The two losses with two runs were by 8-2 at Cincinnati in 1971 and by 4-2 at home vs. the Royals on Aug. 21, 2021.
They now have been one-hit five times since then and did not score in any of the games.
They did not score in 55 of the 69 games. They scored once in eight games – and won one of them, in Game 1 of a Fourth of July doubleheader at Pittsburgh in 1906. The hit, by Jimmy Slagle, came in the ninth inning and he scored the run.
In that 2021 loss to the Royals, the only Cubs hit was also a home run, a two-run job by Patrick Wisdom.
The offense has been moribund for three games now, with a total of two runs and eight hits. This is too good of an offense to do that for very long, and eventually they will come out of it.
And… yeah, gotta say this: The Cubs had a 10-game winning streak, lost three in a row, then won 10 straight again. Now they’ve lost three in a row again. You don’t suppose…
Well, of course it’s very unlikely. But that’s why they play the games.
The Cubs will look to snap that three-game streak Wednesday evening in Atlanta. Shōta Imanaga will start for the Cubs and rookie JR Ritchie goes for the Braves. Game time Wednesday is again 6:15 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
