Cubs keep finding ways to lose, wasting Justin Steele’s follow-up season

SAN FRANCISCO – The Chicago Cubs keep finding excruciating ways to lose. The lack of star power continues to show up in these one-run games. The offense doesn’t have a true middle slugger to knock down the opponent. The bullpen doesn’t have a dominant closer with an entry number that screams game over. And even if Justin Steele throws like an ace, other things go wrong.

The Cubs have already wasted one season of Cy Young Award-caliber Steele, finishing one win short of last year’s playoffs. Keeping the same team largely intact under a new manager has made no difference. If anything, watching the same game over and over has exposed the organization’s weaknesses.

An overnight silence overshadowed the visiting Oracle Park clubhouse after Monday’s 5-4 walk-off loss to the San Francisco Giants. Several players sat silently in their seats, staring straight ahead into a locker or looking at their phones. Add this to the list of games that will doom the Cubs if another season ends with 83 wins, when 84 is good enough to make the playoffs.

The rut the Cubs are currently in can be viewed in two ways: A strong rotation led by Steele can lead them out of it by giving them a chance to win virtually every night. Or the team has wasted a great run of starting pitching by digging a hole that will be difficult, if not impossible, to escape.

“They don’t hand out wins,” Steele said after allowing just two runs in 7 1/3 innings, controlling most of the game only to see the bullpen’s 17th save.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell indicated that Héctor Neris was available, although Neris is clearly no longer viewed as the default closer. Colten Brewer led off the ninth inning by allowing a bloop hit that Matt Chapman turned into a hustle double when Pete Crow-Armstrong couldn’t make a spectacular catch in center field. Thairo Estrada’s perfectly placed bunt then ended in a hit. After a sacrifice fly, Counsell brought in lefty Drew Smyly to protect a one-run lead.

Smyly got a groundball to pinch-hitter Patrick Bailey, but it bounced through for a hit. Smyly then walked San Francisco’s No. 9 hitter, Nick Ahmed, before another sacrifice fly tied the game. The Cubs intentionally walked Heliot Ramos, a move that loaded the bases for Wilmer Flores, who completed a five-pitch walk against Smyly to drive in the winning run.

“We’re all just trying to figure it out and put it together,” Smyly said.

Counsell’s bullpen decisions might have looked different if Seiya Suzuki hadn’t missed another flyball to right field, ending Steele’s night. Counsell brought in Tyson Miller, a trusted reliever with high leverage, to put out that fire in the eighth inning. The Cubs also scored just four runs while generating 10 hits and seven walks, stranding 12 runners. No one asks about the pitcher in the ninth inning of a slap game.

“There’s no question we left runs on base,” Counsell said. “We could have had 5, 6, 7 on the board by just moving the ball forward, but we didn’t do that. We have to do better for that. That was a game we should have broken open. That cost us.”

Bad luck and bad timing haven’t stopped Steele’s development into a front-line starter. The southpaw has added more wrinkles to his fastball/slider combination, occasionally combining a changeup and a curveball to keep hitters guessing. This is no longer a pitcher trying to find his identity or a young player hoping to show he belongs.

The big Steele question heading into this season revolved around whether he could do it again. Another All-Star selection became unlikely once he went down on opening day with a strained left hamstring, an injury that sidelined him for more than a month. Due to hiccups in other phases of the game, he has recorded zero wins in his first 11 starts, which is hard to believe considering he gave up two or fewer earned runs in eight of those games.

The momentum should start with the next day’s starting pitcher, but an unreliable bullpen and a low-scoring offense have repeatedly undermined this team. Combined, Steele, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad and Ben Brown have posted a 2.97 ERA in 61 starts. Yet the Cubs (37-42) have still fallen to five games under .500, making the idea of ​​a hot streak seem increasingly elusive.

“You’re going to have ups and downs,” Steele said. “There are a lot of different things that every unit has to deal with over the course of the season. I feel like they’re doing a great job down there (in the bullpen). This game is not easy. Hitters always say that pitchers drive nice cars too. And pitchers all say that hitters drive nice cars too, because both sides are really talented. These are the big leagues. Every inch you give, teams are going to go a mile.”

(Photo: Brandon Vallance/Getty Images)