They had their chances in Thursday’s 6-2 loss to the Pirates, but after two big offensive performances, the Cubs’ lineup wasn’t able to keep the success going for a third straight day.
The Cubs created a lot of traffic and put the lead-off man on base in the third, fourth, sixth and the eight innings. They even had an opportunity with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth inning, but a Jason Kipnis strikeout and Cameron Maybin flyout ended the threat.
One pitch cost right-hander Alec Mills as Bryan Reynolds reached to the bottom of the zone and golfed a three-run homer to right that would prove to be all Pittsburgh would need. He allowed four runs over five innings.
“We had some chances to add some runs early on and didn’t do that,” manager David Ross said. “That’ll catch up to you at some point. Alec threw the ball pretty well, I thought. That [home run] hurt him.”
Happ leaves game with bruised right eye
There may not be one player more irreplaceable on the Cubs this season than center fielder Ian Happ. The Cubs’ lead-off man has been a revelation at the top of the lineup and been one of the best players in MLB.
But the Cubs lost their lead-off man in the fourth inning of Thursday’s game after he took a foul ball off of his right eye.
Happ fouled off a 1-2 pitch from JT Brubaker in front of home plate and as he was finishing his swing, the ball bounced straight up and hit Happ in the right eye.
The Cubs’ center fielder was dazed and immediately went down to a knee as he was attended to by team trainer PJ Mainville and was removed from the game after getting back on his feet.
Happ sustained a bruise over his right eye. X-rays came back negative.
The switch-hitting center fielder leads the Cubs in batting average, hits, doubles, RBIs, walks, OPS and tied with a team-high 10 home runs.
