Cubs punchless, hapless in shutout loss to Angels

This Cubs season has been full of forgettable games. A 7-0 loss to the Angels on Saturday fits right in.

In front of an announced crowd of 36,420 at Wrigley Field, the Cubs played ragged defense and committed two errors. Those errors were even more costly because of what the lineup didn’t do.

Angels starter Tyler Anderson struck out 10 and walked none in eight innings, needing just 98 pitches. Anderson benefitted from numerous quick at-bats and at one point retired 13 consecutive hitters.

“We couldn’t lay off the changeup,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He located it down very, very well. He got a bunch of swing-and-miss on it. We took some shots in the second and early swings and didn’t get anything with some fastballs.”

Counsell wasn’t kidding when he bemoaned how the Cubs did against Anderson’s changeup. The lefty threw it 30 times, and the Cubs swung at 16, whiffing on 11. In total, Anderson got 22 whiffs on another day the Cubs struggled to hit the ball.

As a team, the Cubs are hitting .228 with a .310 on-base percentage and a meager .368 slugging percentage. Along with the bullpen, the punchless lineup has been a major reason the Cubs are in their current predicament and look likely to miss the playoffs for the fifth straight full season, discounting the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign.

Looking to win three consecutive games for the first time since a four-game run from April 23 to 26, the Cubs fell eight below .500. They were shut out for the seventh time this season, and many of their big bats had rough days.

Cody Bellinger went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Patrick Wisdom struck out three times in three at-bats. Dansby Swanson, in the second year of a seven-year, $177 million contract, struck out three times and saw his batting average dip to .203.

Swanson saw only 12 pitches. When Anderson fanned him in the eighth, boos were audible from the crowd. Swanson fell to 0-for-18 in the first five games of this six-game homestand, which concludes Sunday.

“He’s struggling. There’s no question about it,” Counsell said. “Doing too much? He’s struggling getting into good counts. He’s struggling getting just good swings off, for sure. He played well defensively again, so we’ve just got to get him back going well.”

Outside of one play, defense wasn’t a strength, either.

Kyle Hendricks benefitted in the first from the Cubs’ best moment, when right fielder Seiya Suzuki threw out a tagging-up Keston Hiura at home on a fly ball to end the inning. The Angels already had scored to take a 1-0 lead.

Reliever Colten Brewer and catcher Tomas Nido helped the Angels in the third. With no outs and Taylor Ward on first, Brewer had a chance to turn a double play when Willie Calhoun grounded back to the pitcher. Brewer’s throw was wide of second, and Ward reached third. Later in the inning, Nido attempted to throw out Zach Neto on a steal attempt, but the throw was errant and Logan O’Hoppe scored from third to give the Angels a 5-0 lead.

That edge was more than enough for the Angels, a team that improved to 14 games below .500 and is still without injured superstar Mike Trout.

“[Anderson] just had us in between the whole game,” Counsell said. “The changeup was really effective, and it’s a good pitch and he did a good job with it. There were very few balls hit hard today.”