Cubs lose 2-0 to Yankees

The Cubs’ offense continues to be a model of inconsistency after Saturday’s 2-0 loss to the Yankees.

The Cubs have been shutout three times this week and have failed to score a run in the two games since Wednesday’s 12-0 win against the Pirates.

“It was a similar day to yesterday,” manager Craig Counsell said. “Unfortunately, just unable to get multiple runners on base and create a rally. We didn't really have good scoring opportunities.”

Some of the Cubs’ offensive woes were due to the Yankees making some strong defensive plays and some standout pitching by starter Clarke Schmidt and left-hander Nestor Cortes. Catcher Austin Wells threw out center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong in the fifth inning and second baseman Nico Hoerner in the fourth inning. Given that the wind was blowing in at Wrigley Field, the Cubs had to take some chances to move runners over because extra-base hits were scarce. But those risks didn’t pay off as Wells took away potential scoring opportunities.

“Pretty similar to yesterday's tough run-scoring environment,” left fielder Ian Happ said. “You saw some of the balls they hit that were really well struck, and go to the park. [A] day like today, you try to get aggressive, try to get guys to scoring position so a hit can score them because it's hard to get multiple hits on a day like today."

The Cubs missed an opportunity to build momentum by not jumping on Schmidt — who was making his first start since May 26 after being on the 60-day injured list with a right lat strain — with ace Gerrit Cole on the mound Sunday afternoon. Schmidt cruised through his 4 ⅔ innings, allowing zero runs on four hits, one walk and striking out two.

“Schmidt was good,” Counsell said. “That fastball kind of going two directions at a pretty good velocity gets you off the barrel a little bit. That's what he's good at doing, and that was enough.”

That’s the problem the Cubs continue to face this season. The other team does enough to muster enough runs to win, while the Cubs lose games despite receiving good enough pitching to win. Starter Javier Assad went 5 ⅔ innings, allowing two runs on three hits, walking three and striking out five hitters. But a listless offense led to a second consecutive loss by the Cubs.

Leaving four men on base and going 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position won’t lead to a win most of the time. The dearth of offense means the Cubs had to be perfect with their pitching and defense to win Saturday’s game, which they weren’t.

With runners on first and second with two outs in the sixth inning, the Yankees scored their second run after catcher Christian Bethancourt committed a throwing error on a successful Aaron Judge steal attempt.

The Cubs’ offense powered the club to their 18-8 August record. The club scored the third-most runs (155), the fourth-highest weighted runs created plus (121) and the second-highest OPS (.792). The team’s nonexistent offense is what ailed them in their May and June swoon, and it’s what might have put the final nail in the coffin for the team’s playoff aspirations — entering Saturday’s game, the team had a 0.5% chance to make the playoffs, according to FanGraphs.

“We feel like we have a good enough ballclub to be in the playoffs and in the picture, but we're going to have to play a little bit better and keep pushing here,” Happ said.