Astros Take Series from Cubs; Spoil Tucker and Pressly’s Homecoming
The Chicago Cubs traveled down to Houston this weekend for a battle between two first-place teams. It also marked the emotional and highly anticipated return of two legendary Astros players who departed from Houston in the offseason: Kyle Tucker and Ryan Pressly. Between both teams playing at a high level and Tucker and Pressly returning to try and spoil the party in Houston, there was a lot to be excited about with this series. Ultimately, the Astros continued their dominance at home as they took the series two games to one. This series victory made it two consecutive months for Houston without losing a series at home. Here are my two main takeaways about the Cubs from this series and how their fans should feel now that their lead in the National League Central is down to just two games.
The Struggles Against Quality Teams Continue
The Cubs had a fantastic month of May, and a lot of critics attributed that success in large part to the fact that they played seven consecutive series against teams with sub-.500 records in May. People around the league began to wonder if this kind of success would continue into June, where the competition got a bit stiffer. Well, now that June has concluded, I think it is safe to say that those questions concerning the Cubs have some validity. With this series loss in Houston, you have to go back to the series against the Dodgers on April 22nd at Wrigley Field to find the last time the Cubs won a series against a team above .500 at the time of playing them. While that stat is concerning, the other unsettling trend for the Cubs is that they continue to struggle against quality starting pitching, as once again seen against Framber Valdez on Sunday afternoon. If the Cubs want to have serious playoff aspirations, there is going to need to be a massive improvement in their performance against other playoff-caliber teams as we move into the second half of the season.
Starting Pitching Help Can’t Come Soon Enough
Getting Shota Imanaga back in the rotation earlier this week was a massive step in the right direction for this Chicago pitching staff that was, quite frankly, just trying to tread above water before his return. However, we saw the starting pitching woes rear their ugly head again in both of the Cubs’ losses this weekend. On Friday, Cade Horton had one of his toughest starts since getting called up to the big leagues. He only went four innings while allowing eight hits and seven earned runs. The two daggers were the pair of three-run home runs he surrendered. This put the Astros ahead 7-0 by the fourth inning, and it was just too much for the offense to try and come back from. Then on Sunday, Jameson Taillon actually battled quite well as he was able to work into the fifth inning without allowing a run, but the issue was that he was not getting many swings and misses from the Houston offense. Taillon’s pitch count hit the 100-mark during just his fifth inning of work, where he ended up getting bit by the home run ball once again, allowing a two-run homer to Jose Altuve. Altuve’s blast wound up being the game-winning hit as Valdez and the Houston bullpen dominated the Cubs on offense. With plenty of rumors swirling around that the Cubs are in the market for at least one starting pitcher, combined with the fact that the Cardinals and Brewers are both on Chicago’s heels, expect a move to be made sooner rather than later to help boost this rotation.
