Cubs flat as Yu's Cy candidacy takes a blow

CHICAGO -- Yu Darvish looked human and the Cubs' offense went dark on Sunday night, sending Chicago to a 4-0 loss to the Twins at Wrigley Field.

Darvish's bid for the National League Cy Young Award took a hit, as the right-hander allowed four runs for the first time this season. His performance was still solid enough, but the lack of support from Chicago's lineup sent the North Siders to a series loss and trimmed their lead atop the Central to 3 1/2 games over St. Louis.

• Box score

In a 30-pitch first inning, Darvish allowed an RBI single to Eddie Rosario, but he escaped further harm and stranded the bases loaded. Minnesota struck for one more run in the second, and Max Kepler ended Darvish's night with a two-run homer two batters into the seventh.

The second inning began with a triple into the left-field corner, where Kyle Schwarber misplayed the carom and was slow to retrieve the ball off the bat of Jake Cave. Schwarber was replaced in left field by Cameron Maybin in the third inning, but no reason was given during the game.

"He's fine," Cubs manager David Ross said of Schwarber when asked whether the move was injury related during an in-game interview with the ESPN broadcast team.

Darvish's outing -- one that featured nine strikeouts, one walk and nine hits allowed -- resulted in his ERA climbing to 2.22 on the campaign.

Twins starter José Berríos picked up the win after blanking the Cubs over six frames, in which he struck out four and walked one. Willson Contreras opened the fourth inning with a double and moved to third on a groundout, but he was cut down at the plate on a grounder to third baseman Josh Donaldson by Javier Báez.