Royals 6, Cubs 2: Eleven home losses in a row

I will not miss Zach Davies when he’s gone from the Chicago Cubs.

And make no mistake, he won’t be back in 2022.

Every now and then Davies has a good outing, but he did not have one Friday. Four solo homers off him were more than enough for the Royals as they defeated the Cubs 6-2. It was the Cubs’ 11th consecutive loss at Wrigley Field, dating back to July 27, before the selloff. One more ties the franchise record, which was set in 1994.

Sigh. Let’s review this mess.

Patrick Wisdom gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a rare home run to Waveland [VIDEO].

A report from the ballhawk corner:

The Cubs put another run on the board in the third, and would have had a pair if not for some sketchy baserunning by Ian Happ, who singled after Davies had a hit and Rafael Ortega reached on an error. With runners then on second and third with two out, here’s what happened [VIDEO].

It looked like Ortega had scored the second run on the play, but the Royals challenged that the tag on Happ had been made before Ortega crossed the plate:

Even the scoreboard operators were confused; these were on the different boards briefly at the same time, before they corrected it:

So it could have been 3-0 with the Cubs still batting; instead it’s 2-0 and the inning is over, and it was all downhill for the boys in Wrigleyville blue the rest of the afternoon.

Salvador Perez hit the first of his two homers in the fourth to make it 2-1. In the fifth, Emmanuel Rivera homered — his first MLB homer — to tie the game and then a pair of homers in the sixth, Perez’s second and a fourth KC solo shot by Andrew Benintendi, made it 4-2 Royals.

The Cubs, meanwhile, weren’t really doing anything offensively after that third inning. They had just three further baserunners and only one of them got past first base. Meanwhile, a run off Ryan Meisinger in the eighth and KC’s fifth homer of the day, a solo blast by Cam Gallagher (who had replaced Perez, what is it about KC catchers?), completed the scoring.

You know, the Royals have a decent starting lineup, there are some quality MLB hitters on their offensive side. Their pitching has been their major issue this year, particularly their bullpen, but on this day they made Cubs hitters look silly.

Like I said, I won’t miss Davies when he’s no longer a Cub. That makes 20 home runs allowed by Davies in 126⅔ innings this year, which doesn’t sound like a lot except that 10 of them have come in his last four starts. For August he now sports a 9.00 ERA and 1.500 WHIP, with those 10 homers coming in just 18 innings. Yuck.

This was loss No. 70 of the 2021 season, which equals the second-most Cubs losses in any season between 2015 and 2020, 70 in 2017 when they won the NL Central with a 92-70 record. Needless to say, this team is not going to win 38 in a row to match that. More likely, the 2021 Cubs will post the most losses for the franchise since 2013, when they went 66-96.

Perhaps it will be better Saturday, weather permitting. Keegan Thompson is going to be recalled from Triple-A Iowa to start and Kris Bubic is the scheduled starter for the Royals. Game time is 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.