The Cubs’ offense continues to be a model of inconsistency, as evidenced by their 2-0 loss Saturday to the Yankees at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs have been shut out three times this week and have failed to score in two games since their 12-0 rout Wednesday of the Pirates.
‘‘It was a similar day to yesterday,’’ manager Craig Counsell said, referring to the Cubs’ 3-0 loss Friday. ‘‘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 caused by the Yankees making some strong defensive plays behind standout pitching from Clarke Schmidt and Nestor Cortes. Catcher Austin Wells threw out second baseman Nico Hoerner and center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong trying to steal in back-to-back innings.
Given that the wind was blowing in, 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 [stay in] the park. [On a] day like today, you try to get aggressive, try to get guys to scoring position so a hit can score them. It’s hard to get multiple hits on a day like today.’’
The Cubs missed an opportunity by failing to jump on Schmidt, who was making his first start since May 26 after being on the 60-day injured list with a strained right lat. Schmidt cruised through his 4⅔ innings, yielding four hits and a 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 one of the problems the Cubs have faced this season: The other team does what it has to do to muster enough runs to win, while the Cubs lose games despite receiving good enough pitching to win. Starter Javier Assad allowed two runs (one earned) and three hits, struck out five and walked three in 5⅔ innings, but the Cubs didn’t give him any run support.
Leaving four men on base and going 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position won’t lead to a victory most of the time. The dearth of offense meant the Cubs had to be perfect with their pitching and defense to win, and they weren’t.
With runners on first and second and two outs in the sixth, the Yankees scored their second run when catcher Christian Bethancourt committed a throwing error while trying to throw out Aaron Judge, who was trying to steal third.
Offense powered the Cubs to an 18-8 record in August. They scored the third-most runs (155) and had the fourth-highest weighted runs created plus (121) and the second-highest OPS (.792) last month.
A scuffling offense, however, is what ailed the Cubs during their swoon in May and June, and it’s what might have put the final nail in the coffin for their playoff aspirations early this month. Entering play Saturday, the Cubs 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.