Happ's miscue, Hendricks' rough 4th extend Cubs' funk

MILWAUKEE -- Ian Happ hustled back to the wall in left field, heading to where he felt the deep fly from Brewers designated hitter Rhys Hoskins was destined to fall. When the Cubs' left fielder closed in on the fence -- battling both the sun and wind -- the baseball drifted to Happ’s left, plummeting to the warning track beyond his reach.

In a fourth inning gone wrong for the North Siders on Sunday, Happ’s misplay -- one that led to an unexpected hit and stunned groan from the Cubs fans who made the trip north -- provided the ready-made video clip to pile on the club’s persistent woes. It was merely one within a heap of issues in the 7-1 loss to the rival Brewers.

“It's one run,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said of his offense. “It's hard to see a scenario where that's going to win us a game. Offensively, no matter who we're facing, we're going to have to be better. That's kind of what I take away from it.”

The loss came on the heels of Saturday’s emotional win, in which Justin Steele let frustration out in the dugout amid a quality start and Happ delivered a game-deciding blast in the eighth inning. And that victory came one day after Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer took a seat in the visitors’ dugout and made it clear that this is now an evaluation period ahead of the July 30 Trade Deadline.

Against that backdrop, Chicago got a leadoff homer from Nico Hoerner and a one-out single from Cody Bellinger in the first inning. And then nothing else. For the remainder of the afternoon against Freddy Peralta and reliever Jakob Junis, the Cubs went 0-for-26 with three walks.

Combine that with seven runs on Kyle Hendricks’ line -- four via a grand slam from Brice Turang to cap a seven-run fourth for Milwaukee -- and it was a recipe for a 12th series loss in the past 14 for Chicago.

As the calendar flips to July, the players are well aware that Hoyer and his team are very much in a wait-and-see mode with how to approach the Deadline.

“The sense of urgency’s been there. It's still there,” Hendricks said. “We're focused on the day to day. We have the best in the business there surrounded around us for the front office. That's what they do. But we have to take care of our jobs.”

Hendricks entered the day with a 1.27 ERA in June and held the Brewers to a 1-for-10 showing in the first three innings on Sunday. An infield single from William Contreras, followed by a two-run homer from Christian Yelich on a hanging curveball, had the Brewers off and running in the fourth.

“The inning started innocently,” Counsell said. “The pitch to Yelich, he made a bad pitch, I thought. Just left a curveball up. That pitch has been really effective for him. And then they just strung together some hits. The misplay on that fly ball hurt us, for sure.”

After Hendricks walked Jake Bauers with one out, the mishap in left field arrived.

“I got a little turned around,” Happ said. “Obviously not my best moment out there and it puts Kyle in a tough spot.”

The veteran pitcher was not about to fault Happ -- a two-time Gold Glover -- for the outcome, especially given the way Hendricks felt he was leaving pitches up in the zone. In fact, Hendricks said he initially thought Hoskins had belted a homer.

“That was another bad pitch that I shouldn't have gotten away with,” Hendricks said. “That's on me. I've got to keep going. I’m one pitch away.”

Brewers manager Pat Murphy said he would take issue with anyone who thought that was a routine play for Happ.

"I'll invite any of those people out to left field next week for a day game,” Murphy said. “We'll hit you some fly balls with the same velocity and same height and we'll see how many are caught. Because that's a really tough left field in a day game.”

Before the frame was over, Hendricks had allowed two more singles, followed by the game-breaking slam from Turang. That sent the Cubs to a loss that kept them in last place in the division, now 11 1/2 games back of the first-place Brewers.

“Frustrating place to be for the group,” Happ said. “We're obviously not close to where we want to be just over the halfway point. There's a lot of baseball left. We have to find a way to string a couple series together here.”