This Cubs season has been full of forgettable games. Saturday’s 7-0 loss to the Angels fits right in.
In front of an announced crowd of 36,420, the Cubs played ragged defense and committed two errors. The offense struggled against Los Angeles starter Tyler Anderson, who benefited from numerous quick Cubs at-bats and at one point retired 13 consecutive hitters. Anderson struck out 10 in eight innings and needed just 98 pitches to record 24 outs.
To make things worse, Kyle Hendricks exited after two innings due to low back tightness. Hendricks, who had a 3.60 ERA last month but was coming off a June 30 start when he gave up seven runs to the Brewers, allowed two runs and four hits. He benefited in the first from the Cubs’ best moment, when Seiya Suzuki threw out a tagging-up Keston Hiura at home on a fly ball to right to end the inning.
Hendricks was placed on the 15-day injured list on April 22 with a low back strain and was activated May 12. Sunday was his fourth start since then, having made five bullpen appearances
A day after Justin Steele’s complete game, the rested bullpen struggled. Colten Brewer surrendered three runs in the third and didn’t help himself by throwing away a potential double-play ball. Drew Smyly gave up Jo Adell’s no-doubt home run in the fifth that gave the Angels, a team that was 15 games below .500, a 7-0 lead.
Of course, the Cubs aren’t too much better than that. They fell back to eight games below .500 and failed to win three straight games for the first time since a four-game run from April 23-26.