{"id":668249,"date":"2026-04-07T11:58:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668249\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T11:58:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:58:32","slug":"cubs-need-to-flip-the-switch-after-loss-to-rays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668249\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs need to ‘flip the switch’ after loss to Rays"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 The margins for the Cubs<\/a> are thin.<\/p>\n

The injuries to rotation members Matthew Boyd<\/a> (left biceps) and Cade Horton<\/a> (right forearm) and the offense getting off to a slow start mean the Cubs don\u2019t have much room for error.<\/p>\n

The offense managed only four hits but still managed to leave some runs on the table in a 6-4 loss Monday to the Rays.<\/p>\n

In the second inning, the Cubs put runners on first and second after back-to-back walks to
Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson. Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matt Shaw struck out, but Miguel Amaya kept the inning alive with another walk to load the bases before Nico Hoerner delivered a two-run single. Instead of piling on, however, Alex Bregman popped out to end the inning.<\/p>\n

The Cubs had Rays starter Shane McClanahan on the ropes but were unable to knock him out. He eventually went four innings, allowing two runs and one hit with five strikeouts and four walks.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018We needed to win one more at-bat,\u2019\u2019 manager Craig Counsell said afterward. \u2018\u2018The next inning, we hit three balls really good and got nothing for it. [McClanahan] got through it, and then we just didn\u2019t do much against their bullpen.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018I thought a lot of the guys put together good at-bats,\u2019\u2019 Bregman told the Sun-Times. \u2018\u2018We haven\u2019t really played our best baseball early, but we\u2019ve got to flip a switch and start playing better.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The loss dropped the Cubs to 4-6. It\u2019s still April, so it\u2019s too early to panic, but some worry is warranted.<\/p>\n

As Counsell mentioned, the Cubs also were a bit unlucky. They had some well-struck balls that didn\u2019t fall. In the third, Ian Happ and Carson Kelly had hard-hit flyouts with expected batting averages of .370 and .540, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018We have very good hitters,\u2019\u2019 Counsell said. \u2018\u2018Some of them are not succeeding right now, [but] they will in a big way. And on top of that, we\u2019re light on some breaks. But you\u2019ve got to put more runs on the board to win baseball games.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Horton update<\/p>\n

Horton had imaging on his forearm Monday in Chicago. He and the Cubs are awaiting the results, then can assess the next steps. The results are expected in the next couple of days.<\/p>\n

Horton was Cubs\u2019 best pitcher after the All-Star break last season, posting a 1.03 ERA.<\/p>\n

Welcome back, Tropicana Field<\/p>\n

For the first time in 561 days, the Rays hosted a proper home game after Hurricane Milton destroyed the roof at Tropicana Field in October 2024. They played last season at Steinbrenner Field in nearby Tampa.<\/p>\n

The city of St. Petersburg invested $60 million to repair the roof and refurbish parts of the stadium. It now features new artificial turf, an upgraded videoboard and refreshed clubhouse carpets.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Holy sports meltdown, Chicago.<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

read<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Manager Craig Counsell said Boyd shouldn\u2019t be out longer than his 15-day IL stay.<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

read<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Cubs<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Cubs won Game 1 with just two hits. It was the first time they\u2019ve won a game with two or fewer hits since August 2022 against the Brewers. <\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

read<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 The margins for the Cubs are thin. The injuries to rotation members Matthew Boyd…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,24,4245,161,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-668249","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-cubs","11":"tag-chicagocubs","12":"tag-cubs","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116363312608696008","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}