As Cubs' winning streak ends at 10, a look at the numbers behind the run

LOS ANGELES -- Moisés Ballesteros raised his right arm skyward as he rounded first base and for a moment on Saturday night it looked like the Cubs had the makings of another inspiring win. That feeling was fleeting, as the magic that powered Chicago’s longest winning streak in a decade finally took a day off.

Ballesteros’ go-ahead blast off Dodgers righty Roki Sasaki in the fourth inning -- one of three homers in the game for the Cubs -- arrived just before the floodgates burst open for Los Angeles. With a pitching staff that has been pushed to its limits, the North Siders finally flinched in a 12-4 defeat, snapping Chicago’s incredible 10-game winning streak.

“We’re playing very well,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “But at the same time, we’re also dealing with a real challenge from a bullpen standpoint. I’ll give guys credit. We’ve had a lot of unexpected performances.”

That run was the longest winning streak for the Cubs since an 11-game stretch between July and August of 2016, when the franchise went on to end its 108-year World Series drought. It was the longest run of winning for the ballclub in the season’s first month since April of 1970. Cubs manager Craig Counsell was born later that same year.

Here are three numbers that sum up Chicago’s recent run:

1) .944 OPS
That was the Cubs’ collective showing throughout the 10-game streak, during which the team led the Majors in average (.327), on-base percentage (.403), slugging percentage (.540) and runs scored (72). Within Chicago’s 164 wRC+ in that span, there were 10 regulars who were above average.

Leading the charge of late has been slugger Seiya Suzuki (185 wRC+), who sent an elevated fastball from Sasaki out to left in the second inning. It was the hardest-thrown pitch (98.5 mph, per Statcast) that Suzuki has hit for a homer in his career in the regular season, and it marked his fourth homer in the last five games.

“We’ve got a bunch of guys swinging it well and we’re going to need to continue that,” Counsell said. “He’s locked in. He’s swinging it well.”

Ballesteros’ fourth homer of the year pushed the Cubs in front, 3-2, and continued his torrid stretch (.397 average in 24 games) to start the season as well. Joining Suzuki and Ballesteros was catcher Miguel Amaya, who belted an opposite-field homer off Sasaki in the fifth. By that time, the hole was too steep for the Cubs’ offense to overcome.

2) 60 innings
Across the 10-game streak, Chicago’s starting pitching group combined for exactly six innings on average per game. Combined with the lineup’s surplus of support, that allowed Counsell the ability to better manage the relief innings required.

Those 60 innings combined came from Edward Cabrera, Shota Imanaga, Colin Rea (one outing behind an opener), Jameson Taillon, Matthew Boyd and Javier Assad. Recently, Assad moved back to the bullpen when Boyd rejoined the team from the 15-day injured list. Rea continues to fill a spot vacated when Cade Horton was lost to season-ending right elbow surgery.

“We’ve had a lot of good pitching days to put that streak together,” Counsell said. “We did not have a good pitching day today. But, [the Dodgers] deserve some credit for that. They made it hard on us today.”

Rea piled up 92 pitches in just 3 1/3 innings in Los Angeles, allowing a two-run homer in the third to Max Muncy as a precursor to a six-run outburst for the Dodgers in the fourth. It was a rough outing for the veteran Cubs pitcher, who had four walks in the loss after having five in his previous five outings (24 innings) combined.

3) 2.64 ERA
That was the Cubs’ showing as a pitching staff during the 10-game streak -- an MLB-best showing in that time period. That included a 2.78 ERA by the rotation and a 2.43 ERA from the relief corps.

Part of the reason Assad logged 2 1/3 innings behind Rea on Saturday was to help cover innings for a bullpen that has dealt with a wave of injury setbacks.

Newcomers like Riley Martin, Ryan Rolison and Corbin Martin have helped shore things up, while leverage arms like Phil Maton, Daniel Palencia, Hunter Harvey and Caleb Thielbar have landed on the IL. Another fresh arm, Vince Velasquez, worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings to finish Saturday’s loss.

“With the injuries we’ve had, we’ve had guys step up,” Rea said. “That’s just going to help us down the road, those guys filling big roles and getting those opportunities to show the team what they can do.”