ST. LOUIS — In a low, monotone voice, a downtrodden Ben Brown tried to explain another start that had gone awry.

For nearly four innings, Brown held the St. Louis Cardinals in check on Monday at Busch Stadium, the rivals’ first series of the season. Until small moments spiraled into game-altering ones.

Advertisement

Brown couldn’t put away Willson Contreras with two outs in the fourth, and the former Cubs catcher-turned-Cardinals first baseman connected on a 2-2 fastball for a double. Brown then fell behind Lars Nootbaar 3-0 before battling to a full count. The next pitch, a hanging curveball, landed in the right-field seats for a two-run home run and a Cardinals lead.

That quickly became a familiar sight. Brown surrendered four two-run home runs — all to left-handed hitters — in five-plus innings in the Cubs’ 8-2 loss to the Cardinals. The eight earned runs allowed are the most in an outing in which a Cubs starter gave up four home runs since Jon Lester on Aug. 21, 2020, versus the White Sox. The Cubs (46-32) couldn’t bail out Brown as the offense managed just six hits and two runs in seven innings against Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore.

“It all happened really fast and it’s really frustrating,” Brown said. “It’s going to be tough to sleep tonight just knowing I was that close to something really good tonight, just as fast as it went away, so it’s hard.

“Ultimately, it has to be better.”

Advertisement

The extremes of what the Cubs get on a given start day from Brown can be maddening when he fully harnesses his potential and executes. In the last two months, Brown has five starts, including Monday, in which he’s allowed at least six earned runs. Conversely, Brown owns five outings with two earned runs or fewer in five-plus innings during that span.

Manager Craig Counsell attributed Brown’s ups and downs to being a 25-year-old starting pitcher trying to make progress in the majors.

“You have to get 15, 18 outs in a game, it’s difficult, and it’s hard to see now, but there is growth happening,” Counsell said. “It’s hard to like the growth when there’s struggles going on, but that’s where the best stuff comes from. So we’ve got to keep working on it and improve the quality of the execution.

“Ben’s got a kind of unique arsenal for a starter, and early in games, it can overpower people and then as they calibrate to it requires him to be a little better with the execution. And if he’s not, then they’re picking a pitch, and if it’s in the wrong spot, there’s going to be problems, and that’s kind of what we saw tonight.”

Related Articles

Advertisement

As Shota Imanaga’s return from the injured list and back to the rotation looms Thursday, a starter inevitably will be bumped to either the bullpen or Triple-A Iowa. Considering Brown’s inconsistencies, particularly in key situations with his execution, his best chance to get locked back in and hone his stuff might be in Triple A. There, failures to limit big innings or letting at-bats get away from him can be worked through without putting the Cubs in a hole every couple of starts.

The Cubs will need Brown to throw meaningful innings again at some point over the next three months of the regular season and, with how the team is trending, into October. The best version of Brown might need a stint with Iowa to reset and recalibrate. He said Monday he understood that getting sent to the minors could happen in the coming days.

“I mean, stuff like that’s near the back of your mind,” Brown said. “Obviously, when guys show up in the locker room, they need spots to pitch. It’s hard, but ultimately, it doesn’t matter. I should go do my job and I didn’t do that tonight.”

Carson Kelly has been behind the plate for 11 of Brown’s 16 outings this year and understands the challenges a younger player can go through early in their big-league career after the catcher reached the majors at age 21 with the Cardinals.

“He’s a young pitcher, there’s going to be some ups and downs and there’s going to be some growing pains in some areas, but he’s got really good stuff, and he can pitch at this level,” said Kelly, who collected two hits and an RBI in the loss. “He comes in with a smile every day, and it’s hard when you’re struggling. … There’s some moments when you need to lock it in and bear down and execute some pitches and just they’ve been getting into good counts.”