Royals 8, Cubs 4: We’ll never be Royals

The Cubs looked pretty flat and lost the series to the visitors from Kansas City.

Okay, I’ve already probably given you an earworm with that headline, so you might as well listen to the song while you read this recap of the Cubs’ 8-4 loss to Kansas City:

The Cubs played long ball with the Royals. Unfortunately, four were hit by the visitors, all of them with a man on base. Before I get to the details, here’s what that meant (beyond the loss), from BCB’s JohnW53:

This is the first series against the Cubs in which the Royals have hit eight home runs. Their previous high was six, in the first series ever between the teams, June 26-28, 1998, at Kansas City. They hit two off Steve Trachsel in the first game, a 6-3 win; one off Kevin Tapani in the second game, a 4-3 win; and three off Geremi Gonzalez in the finale, won by the Cubs, 4-3.

You knew this wasn’t going to be a good game when Seiya Suzuki, filling in for Kyle Tucker in right field, dropped a fly ball from leadoff hitter Adam Frazier. In fairness to Suzuki, the wind was treacherous today, blowing out at 13 miles per hour. After a sacrifice, Vinnie Pasquantino hit a two-run blast off Colin Rea.

The Cubs got one of those runs back in the second. Ian Happ led off with a walk and Dansby Swanson beat out an infield grounder. Unfortunately, Nico Hoerner hit into a double play. Happ took third and scored on this single by Reese McGuire [VIDEO].

The Royals got another two-run blast in the third, this one from Salvador Perez, to take a 4-1 lead. And once again, the Cubs met a two-run burst from their opponent with a single run. In the bottom of the third, Michael Busch was hit by a pitch leading off the inning. He took second on a ground out by Suzuki, and one out later Carson Kelly doubled in Busch [VIDEO].

At 4-2, perhaps this was still a game, but the Cubs offense shut down for a few innings after that. From the fourth through the sixth, there was just a walk and then nine straight Cubs went down. Meanwhile, the Royals smashed two more two-run homers, another one by Pasquantino in the fifth to make it 6-2 and then one off Drew Pomeranz in the sixth by Tyler Tolbert that put the game out of reach at 8-2.

I want to say something about the latter homer. It was Tolbert’s first MLB home run. Whoever got it in the bleachers threw it back on the field. That person could have gotten some pretty cool swag from the Royals for giving it back to Tolbert. You can bet that if I had gotten that ball, I’m going to do that. I hope Tolbert did eventually get the ball. Those sorts of things are meaningful to players.

Anyway. That homer made it 8-2 and the game was pretty much over at that point.

The Cubs did put a pair of consolation runs on the board in the seventh and eighth. Matt Shaw hit his fifth home run of the year, and third since the All-Star break [VIDEO].

And then Pete Crow-Armstrong went deep, his 27th [VIDEO].

At 8-4, there was a “maybe, just maybe…” feel to the rest of the game, but the Cubs went down easily in the rest of the eighth inning and 1-2-3 in the ninth.

Here’s John with what he calls a “sad fact”:

This was the sixth game of the season in which the Cubs have allowed at least four home runs. It was the fifth in their 26 games since June 20. The first two were two days apart, four and five by the Mariners. Then came four at St. Louis a day later, followed by the four Monday and today. The first, also four, was on May 9 at New York vs. the Mets.

Look, this sort of thing happens to good teams all the time. The Pirates just swept the Tigers and outscored them 17-6 in a three-game series. The Dodgers have lost 11 of 14. It happens.

However, one thing is for certain. The Cubs need more starting pitching. Colin Rea is a fifth starter, at best, sometimes he’s good, other times (like this game) he’s not. But right now he’s the Cubs’ No. 4 starter and that’s not good. The team announced that Sunday against the White Sox will be another “opener, then Ben Brown, maybe Chris Flexen” game and they will have to do better than that. There are eight days until the trade deadline.

Most trade rumors should be ignored, but this one is interesting:

I’ll probably post a full article on this and other pitching possibilities tomorrow.

In the meantime, the Cubs are likely going to fall a game behind the Brewers in the NL Central as Milwaukee has a commanding 10-2 lead over the Mariners in the eighth inning at the time this recap posted. Just have to pick up the pieces and try to win the next game.

Which will be Friday on the South Side of Chicago against the White Sox. Shōta Imanaga will start for the Cubs Friday and Adrian Houser will go for the Sox. (Unless the Cubs can trade for him before then!) Game time Friday is 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network (and Chicago Sports Network with the Sox announcers).