Conforto stays hot but clutch bats go cold as win streak ends at 10

ARLINGTON – Given his tendency to lean on pragmatism and logic, Cubs manager Craig Counsell has never really bought into the concept of riding the hot hand. And then the manager once again wrote Michael Conforto’s name into Saturday’s starting lineup.

“Michael changed my mind,” Counsell quipped. “If I could play 10 guys today, I would’ve played 10 guys. I know that.”

Conforto then continued his recent hot streak in the first inning, pulling a Jack Leiter pitch deep into the right-center-field gap at Globe Life Field for a double. But as hot as the Cubs’ lineup had been of late, the group was due to cool off – at least for a day – at some point. That moment arrived Saturday in the form of a 6-0 loss to the Rangers.

A theme for the Cubs throughout their incredible stretch of winning over the past few weeks has been a steady stream of traffic on the bases. That continued in Texas, but the North Siders lacked the clutch hits that have defined their historic run of late, finishing with 11 runners stranded, including Conforto twice.

An offense that had helped power a pair of 10-game winning streaks for Chicago went quiet en route to the ballclub’s first loss in May. The Cubs had not lost since April 27 in San Diego, and they will have gone more than a month since a home defeat by the time they return to Wrigley Field on May 18.

“Obviously, we didn’t play well enough today,” Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman said. “We left a lot of guys on base. But I feel like we’re in a good spot, playing good baseball. The guys are preparing and executing the game plan. We look forward to continue doing that.”

With their win in the series opener on Friday night, the Cubs became only the fifth team in MLB history to piece together two distinct winning streaks of at least 10 games before the 40-game mark in a season. The latest streak was snapped on Saturday, but Chicago still has an active 15-game winning streak at home.

In the loss to the Rangers, the Cubs had at least two baserunners in each of the first three innings. That included a bases-loaded opportunity in the third. Chicago also put a runner on in the fourth and fifth, but the offense was unable to break through against Texas starter Jack Leiter.

Across those first five frames, the Cubs’ lineup – a group that averaged 6.2 runs per game over the recent 20-3 stretch – went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-12 with runners on base. The first two runners reached in both the second and third innings – only to be stranded.

The Cubs finished the game 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-17 with runners aboard overall.

“Two runners on in the first. Two runners on in the second. Bases loaded in the third,” Counsell said. “And the first two runners on in the third. Yeah, we didn’t cash in there. That’s probably a little bit of the difference in the game.”

That left little wiggle room for Cubs starter Edward Cabrera, who logged five innings but flinched at a handful of turns to force the North Siders to play from behind. Josh Jung ignited a two-run outburst in the second with a leadoff homer, and a solo shot from Justin Foscue in the fifth capped off the five runs on Cabrera’s line.

“We couldn’t win today,” Cabrera said via team translator Fredy Quevedo Jr. “But we’ll stay focused and want to stay in the same position.”

Over the previous 23 games, the Cubs’ offense as a unit turned in a .278/.372/.474 slash line with 35 homers, 39 doubles, 108 walks, 142 runs scored and a +52 run differential. Under the hood, some of the numbers posted in runners-on scenarios were eye-popping, too.

Consider that the Cubs led the Majors during that time period (April 14 through Friday) with 475 plate appearances with runners on base. The Rockies ranked second with 427 such PAs. The Cubs also led MLB in that span in plate appearances with runners in scoring position (289). The Brewers were second with 260 PAs.

During that 20-3 run, the Cubs had a .797 OPS and 119 weighted runs created plus as a team with runners in scoring position, while putting up an .846 OPS and a 137 wRC+ with runners on base. Chicago’s 37 walks, 62 hits and 96 RBIs with RISP each ranked first in the Majors in that span.

Saturday featured a lot of the same – with the exception of the finishing hits.

“Guys are doing a good job of getting on base,” Bregman said, “and kind of passing the torch to the next guy. It’s been everybody in the room having a part in these wins. That’s what it’s going to take for us to get to where we want to go.”