{"id":824748,"date":"2026-05-27T04:27:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T04:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/824748\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T04:27:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T04:27:20","slug":"chicago-cubs-blown-out-for-their-10th-consecutive-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/824748\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs blown out for their 10th consecutive loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 All the bad moments start to blur together when the consecutive losses<\/a> pile up.<\/p>\n

The missed opportunities, poorly-executed pitches, failures with runners in scoring position, defensive miscues \u2014 the Chicago Cubs have plenty of reasons why their once MLB-best record transformed into last place in the National League Central within the last 19 days.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s performance wasn\u2019t competitive in a 12-1 blowout by the Pittsburgh Pirates for their 10th consecutive loss, part of a stretch in which the Cubs have lost 14 of their last 16 games. Even their typically even-keeled manager was clearly frustrated, with a clear edge in his tone postgame.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s just got to step up and get hits in those spots, there\u2019s not much more to say than that,\u201d Craig Counsell said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to conduct a big-league at-bat. It\u2019s the at-bats you want, those are the at-bats you want to have during the course of a game, and you\u2019ve got to deliver, that\u2019s the name of the game. We\u2019re kind of having the same inning over and over again, and it\u2019s about delivering in those situations and until we do we\u2019re going to be talking about the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs (29-26) are the second team in the last 10 years to have two 10-game winning streaks and one 10-game losing skid in the same season, joining the 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers, who went on to win 104 games and lost the World Series in seven games.<\/p>\n

The Cubs last had a season with at least one 10-game winning and losing streak in 1970. This marks the first time in the modern era (since 1901) that the franchise has recorded both streaks before June 1.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago Cubs’ Kevin Alc\u00e1ntara (13) reacts to striking out against Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dennis Santana during the ninth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo\/Gene J. Puskar)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 10-game winning streaks show what this team\u2019s capable of, and I think the last stretch has shown what happens when you don\u2019t execute against the best players in the world,\u201d third baseman Alex Bregman told the Tribune. \u201cWe have to find a way to execute. This is a get-it-done league. It\u2019s just not good enough. We have to be better at executing and way more consistent with it collectively. I know myself, I can be so much better at baseball, and I will be.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt honestly shows that if you don\u2019t execute against these guys, you\u2019re gonna get your ass kicked. \u2026 Personally, the only way to deal with adversity is to stare it head-on and go right into the fire with it and to attack it, and I know that\u2019s what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer was at PNC Park on Tuesday. At this point in the season, there aren\u2019t many external upgrades to make beyond waiver claims. Hoyer said he tries to talk to Counsell and the coaches during tough stretches and looks to understand the why behind what\u2019s happening, while also offering support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the same coaches, the same process, same manager to win 20 out of 23 and then immediately followed up by (the losing skid),\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s not the people, it\u2019s just about getting these guys on the right track, and I think showing confidence in our guys and showing confidence in our coaches and then the process, I think that\u2019s really important when this happens because everyone\u2019s frustrated, everyone\u2019s searching, everyone\u2019s trying to find solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis basically same group of players (from 2025) has been the exact opposite, and I think that probably speaks more to the randomness of our game than it does to any characteristic of our players because these same players were amazingly consistent last year,\u201d Hoyer added. \u201cI mean, there\u2019s not much to process in a way, we just have to play better baseball and realize we\u2019ve played 33% of the season. We\u2019ve got a long way to go, and let\u2019s have a lot more hot streaks than these streaks the rest of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of blame to go around for the Cubs\u2019 horrid stretch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago Cubs pitcher Jordan Wicks delivers during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo\/Gene J. Puskar)<\/p>\n

Some days, like Tuesday, the Cubs aren\u2019t getting enough from their starting pitcher. Jordan Wicks, making his first big-league start since September 2024, surrendered eight runs in 4 1\/3 innings. A four-pitch walk to Konnor Griffin, all uncompetitive pitches out of hand, to begin the bottom of the first inning set the tone for the night. Wicks attributed his rocky five-run first to too much adrenaline that he didn\u2019t harness well enough. For an offense mired in an awful team slump, it became an immediate challenge.<\/p>\n

Or, as Counsell put it: \u201cYou\u2019re up against it all night, 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t go out there and put your team in a hole like that and expect good things to happen,\u201d Wicks said. \u201cI mean, this one\u2019s on me. When you go out and you allow crooked numbers like that, it\u2019s hard to have good outings when you continuously do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs\u2019 struggles with runners in scoring position emerged again Tuesday against Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft and the bullpen. They went 1-for-13 in those situations and left 11 on base.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t deliver every time, but we\u2019ve got to have some level of production,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cPressing? I don\u2019t know, I\u2019m not sure what the answer is to that. I think the answer is, it\u2019s a big-league at-bat with men on base. It\u2019s the at-bat you want in the game. It\u2019s the at-bat you can make a difference for your team. It\u2019s the at-bat you can flip the score of a game, flip the course of a game, and it\u2019s time for us to deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs continue to search for answers. Another somber postgame locker room where players know they will come out on the other side of this 10-game skid, but sticking to the process hasn\u2019t yielded much offensively lately. During this 2-14 stretch, the Cubs have scored two runs or fewer nine times while getting shut out four times.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the short term, you do need to have urgency to win a game, and every game matters,\u201d right-hander Jameson Taillon said to the Tribune. \u201cBut I think, as a group, collectively, we lean on that experience, and we know that at the end of the year we\u2019ll be good but, I mean, you can\u2019t just sit here and necessarily say that when we\u2019re struggling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all contagious in a weird way. There\u2019s something numbers and analytics can\u2019t put on how contagious winning together can be and losing together can be. The game can steal confidence from you pretty quick.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Taillon, who starts Wednesday, a team\u2019s sense of urgency comes from a mindset. He believes it\u2019s not about working harder, which he already sees his teammates doing consistently on a daily basis, but rather the Cubs not accepting losing. As much as they believe everything will balance out by the end of the season and the Cubs will find themselves in the postseason again, that can\u2019t seep into their daily thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to just lock into today\u2019s game and kind of stay process oriented, keep doing your work, but you can\u2019t also just say we\u2019re going to be great in September because today really matters,\u201d Taillon said. \u201cYou can be doing the same routine, the same process. You can feel like you\u2019re making good pitches for a stretch, everything just feels harder and more magnified. And then there\u2019s stretches where things feel easier, and you get away with more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a weird thing, how the game punishes you for a bit, you work on things, and then it rewards you for a bit and makes you feel invincible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cubs players know it\u2019s on them to turn things around. It\u2019s a veteran group who have all experienced tough moments during their respective careers. That knowledge doesn\u2019t make this current skid feel less daunting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t experienced the season with the streaks that we\u2019ve had,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cThe game can keep giving you surprises, and that\u2019s the beauty of it too, and that\u2019s the fun of this is there\u2019s no script to a season, it\u2019s not going to go a certain way. Just because yesterday went this way doesn\u2019t promise you anything tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe those are all cliches, but that\u2019s what\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 All the bad moments start to blur together when the consecutive losses pile up. The missed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":824749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,1271,5386,1818,21891,69628,1822,338791],"class_list":["post-824748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-jed-hoyer","tag-losing-streak","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-pittsburg-pirates"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116644653618497650","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824748","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=824748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}