ARLINGTON – 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 on Saturday night in Texas, but the North Siders lacked the clutch hits that have defined their historic run of late.
An offense that had helped power a pair of 10-game winning streaks for the Cubs went quiet at Globe Life Park, resulting in a 6-0 defeat that marked Chicago’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.
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 cash in 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.
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.