The inconsistency continues for the Chicago Cubs. After splitting the first two games of their three-game set with the rival St. Louis Cardinals, the Cubs looked flat and unimpressive during a 9-1 loss at Wrigley Field Thursday afternoon. Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia remained hot and improved his record to 5-0 by allowing just one earned run on nine hits in seven unspectacular but effective innings of work.
Casey Coleman (1-3) didn’t give the Cubs much of a chance. He was chased after just four and one third innings, allowing six earned runs on nine hits and four walks. The young right hander saw his ERA jump up to a troubling 7.22 in defeat.
Offensively, the Cubs pieced together nine hits, but managed to score just once. They left a whopping 18 men on base, no thanks to Welington Castillo who went 0-for-4 and left six base runners stranded.
The Cardinals meanwhile pounded out 16 hits. Jon Jay, Colby Rasmus and Yadier Molina each had three hits. Matt Holliday had two hits including his fifth homerun of the season.
Chicago has not suffered any crippling losing streaks necessarily (though they did lose four straight in late April), but the Cubs can’t seem to piece together a prolonged winning streak together, and in the process allow any positive momentum to build on itself.
They’ll try again Friday night when they begin a three-game set at Wrigley against the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants. They’ll then head to the road next week to play two games each against the Cincinnati Reds and Florida Marlins before interleague play begins for the Cubbies at Fenway Park next Friday night.