The Chicago Cubs are starting to crack. One of the league’s most exciting teams in April and May has lost five of their last six outings and holds only a 2.5-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals after an 8-7 loss in front of 29,545 fans at Busch Stadium.
The Cubs sent Ben Brown to Iowa earlier on Tuesday following his performance on Monday night when he gave up eight earned runs on nine hits in 5.0 innings pitched during an 8-2 loss to St. Louis. Starting pitcher Jameson Taillon surrendered eight earned runs on eight hits in 4.0 innings pitched in Tuesday night’s loss to the Cardinals.
The Chicago Cubs are lacking in leadership amid the losing streak
Cubs fans on X gave a slew of complaints about leadership. For one, Chicago desperately needs president Jed Hoyer to trade for an ace pitcher to help boost a rotation that is fatigued and getting absolutely rocked by teams with better than .500 records.
Second, manager Craig Counsell is keeping his starting pitchers in games too long, hoping to eat away innings before he has to put out a fatigued and shorthanded bullpen. Counsell also didn’t do the offense any favors by putting Dansby Swanson fifth in the batting lineup on Tuesday after putting him on cleanup duty Monday night.
Swanson has just three hits in his last 18 at-bats in the last seven days, and made the final out Tuesday on a ground ball to third base, leaving third base runner Kyle Tucker (tying run) and second base runner Pete Crow-Armstrong stranded.
Cubs fans voice their displeasure
“counsel bullpen management is an abject disaster. terrible Thursday vs Mil and terrible series loss this weekend,” wrote a fan.
“Pitching is pathetic but Dansby at 5 is coaching malpractice. Officially panic time,” commented a poster.
“Counsell is way overrated not to mention overpaid . I don’t see where he has done anything that stands out as a decent move . Great excuse giver, for sure,” argued a fan.
“Counsell is going to have this fanbase hating Dansby Swanson. He is absolutely horrific in the clutch and yet we continue to hit him 5th???? Let him stay in the 8 hole. Craig is turning into a BUM,” posted another.
“That’s the worst loss of the year. Craig Counsell’s boner for Dansby Swanson in the 5 and sitting Busch as much as possible needs to end. Jed Hoyer should be on the phone with Counsell to tell him what to do, because clearly our $40 million dollar manager can’t do it,” suggested a poster.
“JED HOYER A TRADE MUST BE MADE TONIGHT FOR A PITCHER,” wrote another.
“How long is Jed Hoyer going to wait to trade for starters. They need people to help set the tone. They have the farm system and money to get real talent,” believes a fan.
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