\u201cThat\u2019s frustrating,\u201d Counsell said after the loss. \u201cI don\u2019t know how else to say it. It\u2019s an opportunity, the middle of your lineup up, and just not being able to get it done is frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ian Happ struck out, the first of two punchouts in a 1-for-5 day, Seiya Suzuki popped out to shortstop and Michael Conforto grounded out to short to kill the threat for the Cubs and let Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti off the hook.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pressures on the pitcher in those at-bats, the pitchers in the tough situation, and it feels a little backwards in terms of that,\u201d Counsell said.<\/p>\n
The Cubs had other situations to push across runs, including a bases-loaded situation with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but none felt more costly than the third-inning situation.<\/p>\n
Since the Cubs had their 10-game winning streak snapped May 8 in Texas, they have hit just .131 with runners in scoring position (second-worst in baseball) and have collected just four extra-base hits in 12 games. Nine hitters are hitting .167 or worse with runners in scoring position in that span. The Cubs are 2-10 in those games.<\/p>\n
Batting averages can be swayed drastically one way or another in small sample sizes like that, but another alarming aspect of the Cubs\u2019 woes with runners in scoring position is their strikeouts. They\u2019ve stuck out 28.4% of the time in those situations, well above the league average of 22.1%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing that hurts you in runners in scoring position is a strikeout \u2019cause there\u2019s no way to get lucky,\u201d Counsell said before the game. \u201cThe thing in baseball (is that) luck is a part of hitting. It just is. We don\u2019t want it to be; nobody wants it to be a part of hitting, but it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen there\u2019s eight fielders out there, it is. Your job is to go up there and try to hit something hard, and you got to live with the results sometimes. When you do have runners on base, you can\u2019t get lucky striking out.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Cubs](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CTC-CUBS-ASTROS27.jpg\")
Cubs manager Craig Counsell walks to the dugout during a game against the Astros on Friday, May 22, 2026, at Wrigley Field. (Terrence Antonio James\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Counsell acknowledged the Cubs\u2019 struggles of late mean it\u2019s time to mix things up to try to spark something for the lineup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we got to do something different,\u201d he said. \u201cI think there\u2019s some at-bats where confidence is starting to feel like it\u2019s shaken. Sometimes just that, a different look in the lineup or a day off or whatever. I think we\u2019re at that point, absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Happ, who had both Cubs strikeouts with runners in scoring position Friday, might be a prime candidate for a game off or to move down the lineup. The left fielder isn\u2019t the only one in a rut, but his timing could benefit from that switch. He has struck out 10 times and is 1-for-13 (.077) with runners in scoring position over the last 12 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIan goes through phases of hot and cold like every other hitter does,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cBut his strength is kind of the ball-strike recognition and being able to handle that part of it, and he\u2019s just really caught in between and looks really caught in between. The fastball\u2019s kind of beating him, the breaking ball he\u2019s way out front on. They\u2019re throwing a lot of strikes, and he\u2019s behind in the count constantly. He\u2019s up against 0-2, 1-2, feels like every at-bat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those offensive struggles can weigh on the team and lessen the margin of error for the rest of the team. Friday\u2019s starter, Jameson Taillon, allowed four runs on eight hits in 4 2\/3 innings and has allowed 12 runs over 9 2\/3 innings across his last two starts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game\u2019s a little hard right now, I think, for a lot of us,\u201d Taillon said. \u201cIt\u2019s just when the game punches you, you got to punch back and find a way. That\u2019s kind of where I\u2019m at. Just need to punch back. I can say I thought I made some good pitches all I want, but it comes down to results, so it wasn\u2019t good enough today.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what the Cubs\u2019 bats are trying to do. They admit it\u2019s a long season and teams go through peaks and valleys, but know they can\u2019t just expect results to turn on their own.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re giving ourselves chances, we just haven\u2019t been able to come through with some of the consistent hits with guys on base and being able to string together some hits,\u201d shortstop Dansby Swanson said. \u201cI think this offense is obviously really good when everyone\u2019s kind of passing the baton to one another, and we just haven\u2019t been able to collectively do that recently. But it\u2019ll get going. Guys are working nonstop in order to find themselves to be the best version of the team we can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roster move<\/p>\n
The Cubs placed utilityman Matt Shaw on the 10-day injured list before the loss Friday, retroactive to Wednesday, and recalled infielder Pedro Ram\u00edrez from Triple-A Iowa.<\/p>\n
Andy Martinez is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell and his offense felt they had the perfect situation to snap out of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2389],"tags":[42,5,24,576,733,139,54,3211,36,4],"class_list":["post-706174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-astros","tag-astros","tag-baseball","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-craig-counsell","tag-dansby-swanson","tag-houston","tag-houston-astros","tag-houstonastros","tag-ian-happ","tag-mlb"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116621154170814207","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706174","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=706174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}