Reliever Andrew Kittredge 'loses the zone,' Cubs' offense remains quiet in 5-1 loss to Reds
Recently acquired reliever Andrew Kittredge got a dose of the fans’ ire during the Cubs’ 5-1 loss Tuesday to the Reds.
Kittredge entered with the score tied 1-1 and one out in the seventh inning, following left-hander Shota Imanaga’s one-run performance, which had earned him a standing ovation as he left.
Kittredge, in his third outing since the Cubs acquired him at the trade deadline, walked Austin Hays, gave up a single through the left side of the infield to Miguel Andujar and surrendered a three-run home run to Spencer Steer.
By the time Noelvi Marte hit a ground-rule double into the ivy in left-center field and Jose Trevino lined a single into left, a smattering of boos could be heard from the crowd. A sacrifice fly by Santiago Espinal was the only out Kittredge got before being pulled.
‘‘The stuff was really good,’’ manager Craig Counsell said. ‘‘We saw some big velocity numbers that [I] kind of wasn’t expecting. Just he was pulling the sinker a little bit, away from the right handers.’’
When Kittredge handed over the ball to Counsell, disgruntled Cubs fans sent him off with another round of boos.
‘‘I’m a strike-thrower; that’s what I do well,’’ Kittredge said. ‘‘To lose the zone like that for a couple of hitters and in that spot is just really frustrating.’’
Cubs’ offense quiet
In the first two games of the series, the Cubs have totaled only three runs and seven hits.
‘‘What we were doing for the first two months, while unbelievably fun, at some level, you kind of knew that wasn’t sustainable,’’ president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said before the game. ‘‘We looked at all of the underlying numbers, [and] we were going to have some regression.
‘‘I actually think now we’re due for the opposite. When you look at our numbers over the last, like, nine weeks or so, we’re due for some of these guys to come out of their slump.’’
The Cubs had one of the best offenses in the majors through the first two months of the season. In the last nine weeks, however, they’ve been in the middle of the pack.
At the same time, they’ve had the third-lowest batting average in the majors on balls in play, suggesting some level of bad luck that should be expected to even out over time.
Suzuki gets rest day
Since the Cubs acquired utility player Willi Castro at the trade deadline, Counsell has leveraged his versatility to give the regulars in the lineup days off.
On Tuesday, it was designated hitter Seiya Suzuki’s turn to rest. He, along with much of the power-hitting section of the Cubs’ lineup, has been slumping lately. He is in a 2-for-25 tailspin.
Kyle Tucker started at DH, and Castro played right field. Castro became the first Cubs player since 1904 to start at four positions in his first four games with the team, according to team historian Ed Hartig. Solly Hofman was the only other Cub to achieve the feat in the modern era.
Standings check
The loss dropped the Cubs (65-48) four games behind the MLB-leading Brewers (69-44) in the National League Central. And the Reds (60-54) trimmed the gap between themselves and the Cubs in the division to 5½ games.