Cubs tripped up after waiting out weather

ST. LOUIS -- Cubs manager Joe Maddon has been quick to note that his team's recent downturn in offensive production has coincided with a schedule ripe with quality opposing pitchers. That might be true, but there is also a hard truth that exists underneath that layer of context.

"When you get to the playoffs," Maddon said, "all you see is good pitching."

In a 7-4 loss to the Cardinals on Saturday night, when a rain delay lasting more than three hours disrupted play in the fifth inning, some unfortunate offensive themes persisted for the Cubs. There was a heavy reliance on home runs, a lack of production with runners in scoring position and a pile of strikeouts.

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Add it all up and Chicago found the loss column for the seventh time in nine games, dropping three straight series for the first time since the first three sets of the season. The Cubs also slipped into second place for the first time since May 6, falling a half-game behind the National League Central-leading Brewers.

There will inevitably be ups and downs in a long campaign, but Maddon said something needs to change soon with his ailing offense.

"[We need to be] more reliant on kind of a swarming inning and really cut back on the punchouts," Maddon said. "The punchouts are really getting way too heavy. I don't like that. We're not making adjustments into the at-bat like we had been earlier in the year. Yes, we're not stringing innings together. It's becoming more reliant on the traditional new baseball methods.

"I want it all. I want to be able to hit home runs. I want to string together innings, and I want to move the baseball and not strike out so much."

During Spring Training, Maddon was more hands-on with his hitters, working closely with the group each day in the team's efforts to upgrade the situational production. The end goal was to fine-tune an overall offensive approach, reducing the chances that the Cubs would experience the kind of second-half slide that cost the club down the stretch last year.

Out of the gates, all that work paid dividends. The Cubs' lineup looked like a well-oiled machine, churning out rally after rally and putting of league-leading production to the opposite field. Recently, though, while Chicago's slugging percentage has continued to climb, so has the strikeout rate. The Cubs struck out 14 times in 36 plate appearances (38.9 percent) on Saturday.

Entering Saturday, the Cubs had also scored 50.5 percent of their runs via home runs, marking the third-highest rate in the NL. Chicago also was tied for the third-highest total of solo shots (52) in the Senior Circuit. Through two innings in St. Louis, the Cubs had a pair of solo homers (one apiece for Anthony Rizzo and Jason Heyward) off right-hander Jack Flaherty.

"I don't think we're going up there trying to just hit homers," Cubs left fielder Kyle Schwarber said. "I think that we're all just trying to go up there and put in quality at-bats. Some of it's not falling right now. It's the reality. I know we're all up there grinding for good ABs and trying to drive in guys here. We're not just looking for the long ball."

Prior to Saturday, Chicago's last seven games included a .244/.318/.504 slash line with a 28.4 percent strikeout rate and 9.3 percent walk rate. That equates to a 112 wRC+ (or 12 percent above MLB average), but there is a noticeable drop in on-base percentage (.349 on the year prior to that stretch) and a widening gap in strikeout-minus-walk rate (11.4 through the first 48 games and 18.1 in seven games prior to Saturday).

The Cubs have also been struggling mightily with runners in scoring position, turning in a 4-for-37 showing in the last six games. Chicago had a .165/.294/.310 slash line with RISP over the previous 23 games, including a .169 average on balls in play.

Against the Cardinals, the Cubs did not manage a runner in scoring position until the seventh, when David Bote delivered an RBI double. Then came a walk by Albert Almora Jr. and a well-placed bunt single by Daniel Descalso, who pushed a pitch back up the middle beyond the reach of a diving Andrew Miller. That not only loaded the bases with no outs, but ended an 0-for-25 drought with RISP.

Then, Miller struck out Schwarber looking with a slider over the inside edge.

"It started behind me, kind of froze me a little bit," Schwarber said. "I should've pulled the trigger and tried to at least foul it off."

Kris Bryant followed with a hard grounder back to the mound, where Miller nicked the baseball with his glove to stop it from finding the outfield. Shortstop Paul DeJong gloved the roller and flipped it to Kolten Wong at second base for a run-scoring forceout. With the Cubs trailing, 5-4, Miller escaped by striking out Rizzo, halting the Cubs' best shot at swinging the momentum.

"That's frustrating. I didn't do my job there," Schwarber said. "I at least should've got in one. It didn't happen. I was frustrated with myself there, because if I at least sac fly, you get a chance to maybe move the guy to third there, too. And then Kris with a ground ball up the middle, it scores another one. That wasn't my best right there. You've got to take it, learn from it and go from there."

Maddon is hoping to see precisely that from his hitters.

"It's a mental adjustment as much as it is anything," the manager said. "It is an approach. It's a mental approach. It's not physically, normally. It's what you're thinking and what your intent is. For me, it's about utilizing the whole field. Maybe there's just a little bit less effort in the swing. Something to that effect, but it's definitely a mental adaptation more than it's physical."