Ope, I guess June wasn’t immediately the magical corner turn …
Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong reached base to open up the 9th inning. Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong reached base to open up the 9th inning. In both instances, and for all the innings in between, more or less nothing good happened. That’s the story of that loss. Heck, it wasn’t even a game where the Cubs were ripping the ball but getting bad luck in the field; they were making tons of early contact, hitting into relatively routine outs, and heading back out to their positions with haste. I get that Gage Jump is a top-100 prospect with nasty stuff, and he gets a lot of the credit for what he did last night. But I don’t think I’m on an island when I say I’m exasperated watching MOST of this offense do almost nothing to pressure the opposing team. Even when they get themselves into multi-runner situations, there’s just no feeling like the pitcher is pressed. There’s an eagerness by certain Cubs batters to come through with the big hit, and that eagerness is showing up in counterproductive ways (particularly when the opposing pitchers are feeding them an increasingly steady diet of breaking and offspeed pitches). It does suck that Seiya Suzuki was inches away from a double that would’ve AT LEAST tied the game, and maybe walked it off. I have to mention that only in fairness. It doesn’t take away from the offensive struggles overall last night – much less the rest of the last month – but it is true. The Cubs were actually so very close to winning that game in the 9th. In the 8th inning, with two outs, nobody on, and a righty now in the game, Craig Counsell elected to pinch-hit for Dansby Swanson with Moises Ballesteros. It was a perfectly reasonable decision when you consider the situation and match-up, but it nevertheless felt pretty notable. Not like it’s something we see all the time, and it’s maybe the first hint that Counsell sees Swanson’s deep, deep offensive struggles as – at times – outweighing his value at shortstop (and the risk of rocking the clubhouse by undercutting a veteran leader). When you have Nico Hoerner right there and able to play shortstop, and Pedro Ramirez right there and able to play second base (while batting lefty in in those kinds of match-ups), it’s no longer a bridge to far to ASK THE QUESTION whether there would come a full game where Counsell might sit Swanson down in favor of a Hoerner/Ramirez middle infield. I don’t think we’re at a spot where it would be a permanent move, but a short-term reset? Fair question, especially after last night. The last month has been brutal for the Cubs. It has also been, according to Jameson Taillon, a wake-up call. “This has been a wake-up call,” Taillon said, per the Tribune. “I hope for everyone, it definitely has been for me. Nothing’s going to be handed to us, and the Brewers are for real again. They’re a very good team. Our division’s really good. The league’s really tough, and it’s just going to take a lot of work to dig ourselves out of this. Obviously, it’s a great group of guys that work really hard, but I definitely think it’s been a wake-up call. I mean, I know it has been for me, for sure.” When Kevin Alcantara got hung up between first and second last night on an attempted steal, it was a pretty bizarre look to be out by THAT much, with two outs and a guy on third: Apparently Alcantara was trying to start a rundown so that Ian Happ could score from third, but (1) that was never even remotely close to happening, and (2) that looked more like a steal attempt that was just abysmally late (the throw was up the line a bit, which didn’t help, but still – something just looked off). After the game, Craig Counsell said of the play that the Cubs “didn’t coach it well enough.” That particular language stood out to me because it vaguely reminded of something from Spring Training. There was a Bruce Levine report that Craig Counsell had a rare moment of loud, vocal frustration with the team during a baserunning drill. When I went back and re-read what Levine had said, I realized why it popped back into my mind:“The Cubs were practicing tagging up on balls hit to the outfield and then the base runner deciding if they have to tag or go half way and Counsell totally lost it. Kevin Alcántara was confused as to whether to tag or be halfway …. Counsell went out and just let everyone have it. He said, ‘If you don’t know how to run the bases by the time camp ends you’re not going to be on this team.’ It was a very pointed, a very hot moment for Craig Counsell. He lost it.”
I have no idea whether there was a coaching issue exclusively on the specific play last night, or if Counsell was making a broader point about that type of play. Or if he was just trying to protect his player. Whatever the case, I’d imagine the same thing popped into his head in that moment, and it probably didn’t make him happy. He’s not saying the rivalry with the White Sox is bigger, but instead is saying the fans are more intense and the experience is more intense with the White Sox right now (which makes sense, because the Cardinals have been kinda underperforming for a lot of Hoerner’s career, and that ballpark has been emptying out):In Nico Hoerner's mind, the Cubs' rivalry with the White Sox is far more intense than their rivalry with the Cardinals from a player's perspective."The White Sox's (ballpark) is much, much more intense," Hoerner says in crediting the environment inside Rate Field. pic.twitter.com/hANd4jBZRX
— 104.3 The Score (@thescorechicago) June 2, 2026 Hey, great, cool, good for them:So far this season:Jacob Misiorowski: 1.65 ERA, 13.69 K/9Kyle Harrison: 1.57 ERA, 11.46 K/9Since ERA became official in both leagues in 1913, no other MLB team has had 2 pitchers with a sub-2.00 ERA & 11.00+ K/9 at the end of any day in June or later (min. 10 starts each). pic.twitter.com/BN5G9hiy1i
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) June 3, 2026 A 2024 12th rounder, and he’s already coming up to the big league Brewers in under two years:BREAKING: The Milwaukee #Brewers are calling up pitching prospect Tyson Hardin, who is expected to make his Major League debut tomorrow against the San Francisco #Giants, sources tell me. Hardin, 24, has rocketed through the Brewers’ system and recently earned a promotion to…
— Sean Wright (@SeanWrightNBA) June 3, 2026 Not speaking to this guy specifically (no idea how he projects), but that kind of trajectory is what other teams are desperate to replicate on the pitching side. Some Cleveland fan out there has an incredible story, and I wonder if he even knows it:Tom Ricketts was sitting in the crowd in Cleveland when Rajai David hit *that* Game 7 home run.And then? A Cleveland fan sitting next to him tried to celebrate with the Cubs owner ?? pic.twitter.com/6i7gRz09uI
— Lovable Reunion (@LovableReunion) June 2, 2026 When you’re a young guy gearing up for a triple-digit fastball, this is what it can look like when you never get it:Jase Bowen was the last hope for the Padres in his MLB debut. Jhoan Duran threw him the exact same pitch three times pic.twitter.com/drEfST6s2F
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 3, 2026 MORE CUBS FROM BLEACHER NATION: Go Ad Free | Subscribe to the BN NewsletterHence then, the article about bats keep limping swanson pinched out wake up call baserunning and other cubs bullets was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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