Cubs drop series to Reds as skid continues

CHICAGO -- Memorial Day weekend is one of the earliest points in a baseball season when a team’s resume is long enough to take stock in their body of work, as about a third of the campaign is completed.

The Cubs entered Saturday having played exactly 50 games, and manager David Ross was asked for an assessment on the state of his ballclub, which lent an answer you may expect.

“We're not where we want to be. I’m sure of that,” Ross said before Saturday’s 8-5 loss to the Reds that dropped the Cubs to 22-29 -- a season-high seven games under .500. “There's still a lot of potential to be better in a lot of areas.”

More importantly, the loss -- combined with a Cardinals win over the Guardians -- dropped the Cubs to last place in an NL Central that has been feeble in the first two months. And with the Rockies' win over the Mets, the Cubs have the worst winning percentage in the National League.

The Cubs entered the 2023 campaign with raised expectations after a handful of free agent signings, and they got off to a fast start in April. But since a 12-7 start, they’ve gone 10-22, including 8-16 in the month of May.

“We had some success early on and kind of hit a little bit of a rut this last month and haven't really gotten on any kind of roll,” Ross said.

“You can point to a lot of different areas where we can be better, but collectively as a group, the team works really hard and brings the competitiveness, their work ethic, their intensity every single day.”

Elements of the past month’s struggles flashed in Saturday’s matchup with Cincinnati. A bullpen that has been under heavy scrutiny struggled in immediate relief of starter Jameson Taillon. Michael Fulmer gave up a go-ahead two-run homer that put Cincinnati ahead, and Jeremiah Estrada then gave up a pair of runs.

Taillon, meanwhile, has gotten off to a rough start in his Cubs tenure since signing a four-year deal as a free agent over the offseason. While Saturday was an improvement over his last few outings, he lasted just 4 2/3 innings and allowed six hits, getting charged with four runs, each of which scored with two outs.

“That was probably a closer version to myself and where I need to be and where I should expect to be going forward,” Taillon said. “Not so much results wise, but more just like pitch package stuff, conviction, aggression in the strike zone. I thought that was a lot closer to where I need to be, but we’re still not obviously quite there yet. I thought it was a good step.”

Taillon said he worked on a couple of mechanical things between his last start -- a 2 2/3-inning, eight-run showing last week in Philadelphia -- and Saturday, and he's trying to get back to who he is as a pitcher.

“It’s one of those things [where] I want to be able to throw a lot of pitches when I need to,” Taillon said. “But at the same time, let's remember what my strengths are -- four-seam fastballs, curveballs, sliders. And then on top of that, I can add a cutter, add a two-seam. I felt like maybe I got a little bit away from who I was at my core.”

The Cubs need Taillon to get on track, but their issues go beyond him. Their bullpen has been one of the worst in baseball, especially in high-leverage spots. The lineup, despite many individually strong seasons, has also struggled in leverage spots -- which team president Jed Hoyer discussed this week.

The Cubs are only 4 1/2 games back of first in the division. But they’re also in an extended funk, and it’s not early forever, like Hoyer noted this week. At some point, and soon, they need to start stacking up some wins with the calendar flipping to June.

“It's been tough. The results definitely haven't been great,” Taillon said. “It's a great group in there. Everyone shows up ready to work. I feel like we flip the page really well. Obviously, at this level, it comes down to wins and losses. It’s one thing to talk about team chemistry and everything. But team chemistry is always even better when you're winning.

“This would be a really fun group to win with and accomplish great things with. But we need to start piling up some 'W's.”