Game Recap: Cubs’ bats go silent again in shutout loss to Cardinals

Jeff Curry - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 7 hours ago

ST. LOUIS - Offense, offense, where is the offense? That is what Craig Counsell and most Chicago Cubs fans (66-49) are continuing to ask themselves as this offense has been putrid for the better part of two months. It has gotten to the point where Counsell is moving guys up and down the lineup to try and solve this, but nothing seems to be working as this team is in desperate need of a jolt of life.

That is what the trade deadline was supposed to be for, but after failing to address their needs at the deadline, the Cubs are going to have to figure this out on the fly, or they could be looking at another wasted season and a fifth consecutive season without a playoff berth. Hoping to turn their offensive struggles around against the St. Louis Cardinals (59-58) at Busch Stadium, it was the Cubs making another average pitcher look like Cy Young as the Cardinals blanked the Cubs 5-0 to kick off their weekend set.

This time, it was Michael McGreevey benefitting from a struggling offense as the right-hander went out to dominate the Cubs and turned in one of his best starts of the season. Across six innings, McGreevey scattered three hits and struck out three as the Cubs continue to search for answers at the plate. Knowing that Matthew Boyd was on the mound for the Cubs, McGreevey had to be at his best, and he delivered in the best way possible.

When it comes to Boyd, this wasn't one of his better starts, but it also wasn't one of his worst outings as the Cardinals scored their first runs in three starts off the lefty this season. In total, Boyd labored through five innings, allowing three runs and striking out three, but when your offense can't score, it doesn't matter how good or bad you pitch.

A big reason for the Cubs' offensive struggles is their inability to come away with the clutch hit with men on base, and you saw that once again in the second. With both teams failing to score a run in the first, the Cubs had their chance in the second as singles from Carson Kelly and Nico Hoerner set the offense up, only to come away empty.

The same can't be said about the Cardinals, as this was the one inning where they would like to have back, as an Alec Burleson single followed by a Masyn Wynn double put a pair of runners in scoring position and no outs. Jordan Walker kept the line moving with another single to drive home the game's first run before a fourth consecutive hit loaded the bases with no outs. Boyd managed to limit the damage by inducing an inning-ending double play, but these are the innings where you can't let Boyd off the hook, which the Cardinals did.

Had this been earlier in the season, there is no question that the Cubs would've made the Cardinals pay for not adding on, but given their struggles, any deficit at this point seems magnified as the Cubs can't get anything going at the plate. Still trailing 1-0 in the fifth, it was the Cubs hoping to break through against McGreevey as a leadoff walk from Hoerner was followed by a Dansby Swanson single as the Cubs had two on and no outs.

Once again, it was a case of deja vu as neither of those runs was able to come home as the Cubs were kept off the board yet again. It was in this moment when the Cardinals put the game away as a pair of singles to begin the bottom of the fifth set the Cardinals up only to have the Ivan Herrera sacrifice fly double the lead 2-0. Willson Contreras followed that up with a massive two-out single to push the Cardinals' lead to 3-0, which also was the end of the line for Boyd following that inning.

One of the bigger question marks regarding upcoming roster moves is what to do with Ryan Brasier. Once one of the better relievers on this team, Brasier has hit a massive rough patch as his ERA has gone from 0.91 to start July up to 3.93. He continued to get knocked around on Friday, allowing a solo homer to Walker to push the Cardinals' lead to 4-0 before a Pedro Pages single later in the sixth added on another run to put the Cubs in a massive 5-0 hole.

From that moment on, this became a battle of the bullpens, and even with the Cardinals being down several of their arms after their deadline moves, the Cubs were unable to capitalize as the Cardinals closed things out to cap off the shutout 5-0. The loss now moves the Cubs to a season-high five games out of first place as the Milwaukee Brewers won again and are on the verge of running away with this division.

Even if the numbers don't show it, Ian Happ is starting to heat up again at the plate and with a team-high two hits on Friday, his average is back above the .230 mark after dropping below .220 after the All-Star break. The Cubs are hoping Michael Busch, Seiya Suzuki, and Kyle Tucker start to follow that trend, as they are the main reasons why things have gone south for this group.