{"id":25855,"date":"2025-06-30T01:03:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T01:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/25855\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T01:03:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T01:03:14","slug":"3-takeaways-from-series-loss-to-houston-astros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/25855\/","title":{"rendered":"3 takeaways from series loss to Houston Astros"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2014 The Chicago Cubs\u2019 hold on first place in the division is becoming tenuous.<\/p>\n

They dropped their series against the Houston Astros<\/a> with a 2-0 loss Sunday at Daikin Park and have lost four of their last 10 games<\/a>. The Cubs (49-35) completed their challenging stretch of 26 games in 27 days, including one postponement due to rain, with a 12-13 record. But the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals have been playing well and now sit 2 games and 2 1\/2 back of the Cubs, respectively, in the National League Central.<\/p>\n

The Cubs had an opportunity to erase the Astros\u2019 two-run lead from Jose Altuve\u2019s home run in the fifth inning, but they failed to capitalize after putting a pair of runners on to open the top of the seventh to force lefty Framber Valdez out of the game. Pinch hitters Michael Busch (foul out) and Vidal Bruj\u00e1n (strikeout) and Ian Happ (strikeout) couldn\u2019t take advantage against Astros righty reliever Bryan Abreu.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir bullpen, those two guys Abreu and (Josh) Hader, they\u2019re two of the best, and Valdez got deep enough in the game where they could go right to them,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cAbreu did a great job, and (Busch) that\u2019s the one you pitch you want back. He took a good swing at the right pitch, and he just missed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Cubs look ahead to a six-game homestand versus the Cleveland Guardians and Cardinals following Monday\u2019s off day, here are three takeaways from their weekend series in Houston.<\/p>\n

1. Jameson Taillon\u2019s bounce-back outing ends on a sour note
\n\"ChicagoChicago Cubs starting pitcher Jameson Taillon throws against the Houston Astros during the first inning of a baseball game Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)<\/p>\n

Jameson Taillon\u2019s consistency had been a huge part of the Cubs\u2019 early-season success, until he gave up his most runs in back-to-back starts the last two times out since his second season in the majors.<\/p>\n

Taillon looked to get locked in Sunday against Houston. Leading up to the start, the veteran studied his pitch usage and sequencing to evaluate what adjustments he needed to make. Part of that puzzle to regain his form required improved execution. The Astros certainly made Taillon work Sunday, especially former Cubs third baseman Isaac Paredes, who forced the starter to throw 31 pitches, including 17 foul balls.<\/p>\n

Taillon, though, had kept the Astros off the board until Altuve\u2019s home run on his 107th pitch to end his day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew it was gone,\u201d Taillon said. \u201cI grew up coming to games here. I\u2019ve seen so many balls go into the Crawford Boxes. It\u2019s one of those things, like, yeah, it\u2019s a short left field, but it also isn\u2019t a very good pitch. So that\u2019s what he does. He\u2019s probably a future Hall of Famer. I thought it was gone off the bat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taillon\u2019s improvement from his previous two outings stemmed from better pitch usage, most notably throwing more cutters \u2014 up from his 12% average this season to 29% Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of that was predetermined and part of it, I just thought the cutter was better today,\u201d Taillon said. \u201cI haven\u2019t had great feel of that lately, and I also haven\u2019t seen seven righties in a lineup, probably all year, in a while.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to be too happy when you don\u2019t complete even five innings, but I actually thought that was some of the best stuff and command I\u2019ve had all year. \u2026 Obviously got beat by the homer again today, which I\u2019m getting pretty tired of, but it was a pretty good hitter that hit it.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Nico Hoerner is finally tapping into power
\n\"ThirdThird base coach Quintin Berry of the Chicago Cubs congratulates Nico Hoerner after a home run in the fifth inning against the Houston Astros on June 27, 2025, in Houston. (Tim Warner\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Nico Hoerner knows his lack of home run power has been a conversation topic.<\/p>\n

He was one of only two qualified hitters without a home run this season. But suddenly, Hoerner has tapped into the long ball. Hoerner\u2019s go-ahead home run in Saturday\u2019s win against Houston gave him three in his last five games.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously the question has always been how to add more power to my game and this and that, and it\u2019s hard to put a finger on one thing,\u201d Hoerner said. \u201cBut just good contact, simple swings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Chicago Cubs\u2019 Kyle Tucker still a fan favorite in his first return to Houston since leaving the Astros<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Despite his limited home runs through the first three months of the season, Hoerner entered Sunday\u2019s series finale with a career-best 109 OPS+ and his .386 slugging percentage is the second-best over his career.<\/p>\n

After Saturday\u2019s game, when asked whether it crosses his mind when he hasn\u2019t hit a home run in a while, Hoerner laughed before noting, \u201cYeah, I do.\u201d Hoerner had gone 321 plate appearances between home runs, dating to last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m obviously aware of how I\u2019m producing and I\u2019m aware of the things that I do well, and I don\u2019t want to lose sight of those things that I\u2019ve always done well,\u201d Hoerner said. \u201cBut I want to be a really impactful player in this league and help us win games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to be a really good player in this league without hitting for power. So, you can\u2019t force it, but there\u2019s daily work that gives me a better chance to do it, and I feel like I\u2019m getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Chris Flexen continues to be a \u2018glue guy\u2019
\n\"ChicagoChicago Cubs relief pitcher Chris Flexen throws during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in Houston, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo\/Ashley Landis)<\/p>\n

Chris Flexen hasn\u2019t pitched out of the bullpen much during his eight-year big-league career.<\/p>\n

His 15 relief appearances are already his most in a single season. But despite not possessing a ton of experience in that role, Flexen understands the value of making sure his fellow relievers are as fresh as possible. After the seventh inning in Friday\u2019s loss, Flexen told Counsell he had one more inning in him, wanting to ensure the bullpen was good for Saturday.<\/p>\n

Flexen finished with four shutout innings Friday to lower his season ERA to 0.64 through 15 outings (28 innings).<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gets it, you know what I mean?\u201d Counsell said. \u201cIn your bullpen, the guys are connected to each other. And so Chris made somebody else more effective (Saturday) and (Sunday). And I think that\u2019s a big deal. There\u2019s no statistic for that, there\u2019s no metric, there\u2019s no analytics for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Counsell described Flexen as a glue guy, highlighting how valuable the 30-year-old right-hander has been in his relief role this year. His effectiveness on the mound has stemmed from his curveball shape and speed he throws it, combined with his cutter and high fastball, makes Flexen tough to hit. He\u2019s surrendered only 16 hits in 28 innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cStuff wise, he\u2019s just got really good feel for all of his pitches right now,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cThat\u2019s what you see in his outings, just confidence: any count, any time, any one of his pitches.\u201d<\/p>\n

With how well Flexen has been performing and built up to four innings and 50 pitches, he\u2019s an appealing choice to start if the Cubs go the bullpen game route sometime at some point. Counsell acknowledged that possibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we have him stretched, gotten him some longer appearances, he may give us some flexibility,\u201d Counsell said Saturday. \u201cIf he had some rest going in, we could get him to the 60-65 pitch level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 The Chicago Cubs\u2019 hold on first place in the division is becoming tenuous. They dropped their…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[1271,22872,1816,4345,2382,5439,22871,13715,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-25855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-chicago-cubs","9":"tag-chris-flexen","10":"tag-craig-counsell","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-houston-astros","13":"tag-jameson-taillon","14":"tag-national-league-central","15":"tag-nico-hoerner","16":"tag-texas","17":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114769625642061253","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}