Cubs' bats silent in 11-1 loss to Mets

Left fielder Ian Happ slammed his helmet in frustration after his sixth-inning strikeout, his second of the game. The helmet slam encapsulates the Cubs’ performance at the plate in Friday’s 11-1 loss to the Mets.

Through 6 ⅓ innings against starter Jose Quintana, the Cubs (36-40) had just four hits, two of them coming from center fielder Cody Bellinger. Catcher Miguel Amaya got the first non-Bellinger hit after his fifth-inning single to left field.

The Cubs had a prime scoring opportunity in the first inning with a bases-loaded situation, but the team only mustered one run.

Since May 1, the Cubs are slashing .224/.307/.359 with a weighted runs created plus of 92, which is eight points below the league average and 22nd in the majors. The team is also batting .216 with runners in scoring position after batting .272 last season.

Shortstop Dansby Swanson didn’t have an answer for the team’s offensive woes.

“It's kind of hard to say,” Swanson said. “Sometimes you hit balls, and they get caught, and sometimes you do, and they don't. We got a lot of faith in our guys here to be able to produce in big-time situations. We'll be looking forward to getting on a roll here soon.”

Despite the bulk of last year’s lineup returning, it’s fair to wonder if the offense that scored the sixth-most runs in the majors is still there 76 games into the season. Stringing together quality at-bats has been challenging for the Cubs.

With the Cubs around a month away from the trade deadline — and deadlines spur movement — it’s on the current group of hitters to turn things around.

“We have a lot of really good and capable players here,” Swanson said. “A lot of young guys that are highly capable of doing some great things in this game; it's just a matter of meshing it all together. We've been able to show signs of that here recently and we believe in what things are to come.”

‘He’s done a great job morphing into something different’

Reliever Tyson Miller has emerged as an unsung hero out of the bullpen for the Cubs. Miller, whom the Cubs acquired via trade after he was designated for assignment by the Mariners, has a 1.23 ERA over 14 ⅔ innings. An added sweeper has aided Miller in his strong play of late.

“He's done a great job morphing into something different and, frankly, more effective,” manager Craig Counsell said. “It's made him a better pitcher.”

Opponents are hitting .133 against the sweeper. Miller’s emergence was necessary after injuries to relievers Adbert Alzolay, Julian Merryweather and Yency Almonte. Right-hander Hector Neris, who has assumed closing duties after Alzolay’s forearm strain, has been shaky.

Entering Friday’s game, Neris had the sixth-highest walks per nine innings (6.75) and the fifth-highest walk rate (16.5%).

Brown update

Although the Cubs received promising news regarding the hard-throwing rookie Ben Brown’s stress reaction in his neck, Counsell said this isn’t a day-to-day situation. The team will continue to allow Brown to progress while operating with caution.

“We're going to just increase activity as long as there's no symptoms,” Counsell said. “This could go pretty quickly here, but we're also going to be careful of recreating symptoms.”