'We’ve got to be better': Cubs can't overcome miscues

CHICAGO -- After walking through what happened during a pair of costly fundamental breakdowns on offense on Thursday, Cubs manager David Ross offered a succinct assessment of the night’s events.

“We’ve got to be better,” Ross said. “Gave away a game.”

The task now for the Cubs is to make sure the 3-1 loss and three-game sweep at the hands of the Phillies does not undo all the momentum that was seemingly building not too long ago. The North Siders have 10 games left before the All-Star break to rediscover their recent high level of play.

Chicago has now dropped four in a row, following a stretch of 11 wins in 13 games that had them one game under .500.

As the Cubs (37-42) attempt to climb back toward the break-even mark again -- a line that will make competing for the division more realistic -- the club simply cannot give games away, as Ross phrased it. Kyle Hendricks gave Chicago a quality start and there were plenty of offensive chances, but two ill-timed and ill-executed bunts effectively handcuffed key rally points.

“Not our smartest baseball,” Ross said. “We’ll be better for it.”

The first misstep arrived in the fourth inning. With the Phillies holding a 3-1 lead, Nick Madrigal stepped into the box with runners on the corners and two outs. Madrigal used an unexpected bunt to push a pitch from Taijuan Walker up the first-base line. It was scooped up by first baseman Kody Clemens, who tagged Madrigal to halt the inning.

It was difficult to decipher why Madrigal chose that moment to square around, especially when he had been one of the Cubs’ hottest hitters of late. Entering the game, the infielder was hitting at a .356 clip with an .897 OPS in 15 games in June.

The explanation for Madrigal’s decision proved frustratingly simple in the end.

“Nick just forgot the outs,” Ross said. “He forgot how many outs there were.”

The Cubs had another prime scoring opportunity in the fifth inning.

Mike Tauchman led off with a deep fly ball, which Phillies left fielder Kyle Schwarber mishandled for a two-base error. Nico Hoerner followed with a single to right field, putting runners on the corners with no outs for Christopher Morel, who has been one of baseball’s top power hitters.

With his two-hit showing in Thursday’s loss, Morel now boasts a .603 slugging percentage. Only Aaron Judge (.674), Shohei Ohtani (.666) and Corey Seager (.609) have better marks among MLB hitters with at least 150 plate appearances this season. Morel is second on the Cubs with 13 homers on the year.

“We want him to swing the bat in that situation, obviously,” Ross said. “He’s a game-changing bat.”

Morel bunted a pitch from Walker, who fielded the roller and fired to first base for an out. The play moved Hoerner to second base, but that was as far as things went. Ian Happ lined out and Dansby Swanson struck out, stranding both runners and making Morel’s decision to bunt all the more glaring.

“They talked to me after the bunt and that situation,” Morel said via team translator Fredy Quevedo. “In that at-bat, just take the swing. In that position, I was just trying to hopefully score and help out the team.”

That was the same feedback Ross offered when asked about Morel’s thinking.

“Mo, you know how good he’s been for us and what a great player he is,” said the manager. “It’s just one of those things, I think he thought he was doing the right thing. And now he knows what’s expected of him. Three-hole hitter -- we want him to bang.

“But you can see why we love the kid so much. The way his mind works, and how much he cares about winning. He’s still learning.”

It was a hard lesson learned for a Cubs team that can ill afford to miss opportunities like the ones that arrived Thursday.

Chicago’s lineup finished the night 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Hendricks’ seven-inning outing gave him a 2.05 ERA in his last four starts. The Phillies’ offense went dark after the first three frames and their defense made multiple errors that set up scoring chances for the Cubs.

“It’s unfortunate. We’ve been playing so good,” Hendricks said. “We want to finish this thing out, get to the break in a good spot. We want to keep playing good -- keep playing good fundamental baseball. We’ve just got to flush this.”