The Chicago Cubs trying to reach the .500 mark lately is like trying to catch the greased pig at the county fair.
They come close, but it slips through their fingers.
The last time they didn’t have a losing record was June 5 and opened last week with a 59-60 record. But it got away with three straight losses at Cleveland.
Two wins over Toronto at home put the Cubs at 61-63 but on Sunday, the slippery pig got away again as they dropped a 1-0 decision to the Blue Jays in front of a crowd of 36,117 at Wrigley Field to put them three games under.
“This was an opportunity, for sure,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “We pitched well. But it takes all phases. To put together streaks, you have to deliver in all phases. We just weren’t able to deliver offensively.
“Three one-run games. We came up on top in two of them. But you look at today as a missed opportunity.”
Shortstop Dansby Swanson said winning two out of three games to start a homestand is positive, but he wanted more.
“We were hoping to sweep them,” he said. “We’ve played some good baseball throughout this series but we just weren’t able to get a big hit today.
“We had some opportunities sporadically throughout the game but we couldn’t get the big one across.”
Left-handed hitter Joey Loperfido’s 409-foot home run off left-handed pitcher Shota Imanaga (9-3) in the second inning was the lone run in the game.
Through an interpreter, Imanaga said he tipped his cap to Loperfido because he hit a pitch outside the strike zone for the home run.
The rookie Cub pitcher thinks the team is still capable of a winning record and a shot at a wild-card spot.
“We have a lot of good players,” Imanaga said. “The goal is that if everyone can be 100% all the time, we would be doing better.
“But the reality is that not everybody is doing 100% all the time. You just go out there and do whatever you can for that day at 100% and go from there.”
Toronto pitcher Bowden Francis (6-3) gave up three hits in seven shutout innings — including a check-swing single by Michael Busch and a bloop single by Seiya Suzuki.
Suzuki was hit hard in the leg in the on-deck circle with a foul ball in the eighth inning but Counsell said he was fine.
Despite the loss, the Cubs have one stunning positive stat. They are 11-3 at home against American League teams at Wrigley Field.
They have nine more home games against AL competition — a three-game set against Detroit starting Tuesday, a three-game series against the New York Yankees starting Sept. 6 and a trio of games against Oakland on Sept. 16-18.
Aside from the obvious task of trying to win games against Detroit, the Cubs will welcome back popular infielder Javy Báez to Wrigley Field for the first time since he was traded to the New York Mets on July 30, 2021.
He entered Sunday’s action hitting .185 for the Tigers but Counsell has seen enough of him over the years to call him “uber-talented.”
“Javy is just a player who impacted the game kind of everywhere,” Counsell said of Báez. “On the field. On the bases. At bat. And he certainly did it with entertaining flair. That was fun to watch.
“And he always had great instincts. Wonderful instincts for the game. Really cool instincts.”
Before Sunday’s game, left-handed pitcher Jordan Wicks threw a 25-pitch bullpen session. Wicks is on the 60-day injured list with a right oblique strain suffered in June.
He is scheduled to start a game for Triple-A Iowa at Toledo on Tuesday. Counsell said it would take a couple of starts to determine if Wicks is ready to come back.
Despite an injury-plagued season, Wicks said he hopes to be able to help the team in September.
“It’s definitely a goal of mine,” he said. “It’s a goal to be pitching up here and helping us win games.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
