BOX SCORE

The Chicago Cubs’ Canadian road trip got off to a rough start Tuesday with a 5-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

As the story has gone for much of the past month, the offense struggled to produce in a time when the NL Central race is slipping further and further away.

The Cubs are now 7.5 games back of their rival Milwaukee Brewers with 43 games to go in the regular season.

Here are three things we learned from a tough night in Toronto:

A sad welcome back party

After 321 days, Javier Assad returned to the bump for the Cubs on Tuesday. 

Assad had yet to make a single appearance for the team in 2025 after suffering an oblique injury in February and experiencing a setback during a rehab start in April. 

Three singles for the Blue Jays in the first inning put some pressure on Assad, but the righty was able to limit the damage to just one run while racking up his first strikeout of the season. 

Assad’s teammates had his back as well — especially Ian Happ, who cut down Ty France at home plate and, in turn, prevented Toronto from cashing in on France’s leadoff double in the second inning.

But things unraveled for the 28-year-old right-hander in the fourth inning: A leadoff single followed by a hit batter set up a three-run home run for Blue Jays third baseman Ernie Clement and made it 4-0 in the hosts’ favor. 

Assad exited the game after that frame, bringing his final line to four earned runs on eight hits with one walk and two strikeouts. He threw 70 pitches, 48 of them for strikes.

Can’t buy a run

The Cubs’ royal offensive slump since the All-Star break has been well-documented. It’s undoubtedly the reason they’ve played sub-.500 baseball (10-11 entering Tuesday) since the season resumed after the mid-summer break.

On Tuesday, it was more of the same struggles for a group that started the season as arguably the best offensive team in MLB. 

The Cubs were down 1-0 in the third inning when things started looking up for them at the plate. Dansby Swanson hustled down the line for a leadoff infield single and stole second. Matt Shaw took a hard-earned, 10-pitch walk. A deep flyout from Michael Busch advanced Swanson to third base and brought up Seiya Suzuki with a one-out RBI opportunity.

All Suzuki needed to do to tie the game was put it in the air in the outfield. He did that — but it was a shallow popout to shortstop Bo Bichette that kept Swanson in place at third base.

Kyle Tucker kept his composure to take a walk and load the bases, bringing up Carson Kelly with a golden opportunity. 

Kelly fought back from falling into a 0-2 hole, but a sinker from Jose Berrios on the inside corner froze the Cubs’ catcher and squandered their scoring opportunity.

Through six innings for the Cubs, Toronto’s pitching staff was holding onto a shutout. 

And, yeah, if it feels like the Cubs have hardly scored since the break, that’s largely true: Their 87 runs entering Tuesday were the third-fewest in MLB since July 18. At the top of the leaderboard was none other than the Blue Jays, who have scored 143 runs since then. In second place? The Milwaukee Brewers (137). 

The perils of Pete

Pete Crow-Armstrong hit .308 with six home runs and 16 RBI in July. The Cubs went 14-10 in that span. 

In August, he’s hitting .081. That’s 3 hits in his last 37 at-bats. And in concurrence, the Cubs have struggled, too. 

Crow-Armstrong’s slump was highlighted Tuesday in the seventh inning with a two-out, bases-loaded opportunity — the Cubs’ second of the game after Kelly’s at-bat in the third. 

Blue Jays pitcher — and former Cubs draft pick — Brendon Little used just one weapon on Crow-Armstrong: A knuckle curve, every single one below the zone. 

Crow-Armstrong showed some patience, watching two of Little’s offerings bounce in the dirt, but Little’s 2-2 pitch was too enticing. He swung right through it, ending the rally and leaving another chance at a big inning in the dust.

The series continues Wednesday at 6:07 p.m. CT with Cade Horton (6-3, 3.18 ERA) set to take the mound for the Cubs as he looks to build on a four-start scoreless streak. Right-hander Kevin Gausman (8-8, 3.85 ERA) will take the ball for Toronto. 

Coverage begins at 5 p.m. CT on Marquee Sports Network.