Padres 6, Cubs 4: Ten

This one, I really wish I could just say “The Cubs lost 6-4” and be done with it.

But. You come here for a game recap and so, you shall have one. It was the Cubs’ 10th straight defeat. That means the Cubs have had three double-digit losing streaks in the last calendar year, 11 from June 25-July 6, 2021, 12 from August 5-16, 2021, and this one. Since June 25, 2021 the Chicago Cubs have a record of 52-98 which is... putrid.

It’s gonna get worse, probably, before it gets better.

Let’s have a look at this game. I’ll keep it brief because... brief is better with these losses.

The Cubs took a 1-0 lead on Joe Musgrove’s fifth pitch of the game to Christopher Morel. Gone! [VIDEO]

Oppo for Morel, his fifth:

It was all downhill from there. Seriously.

Matt Swarmer gave up three in the second, mostly because he issued three walks. There was a home run by Nomar Mazara involved as well. Swarmer threw 15 pitches in the first inning and 44 in the second, yikes.

And you know? When the Padres went ahead 3-1 I thought, “This game is over.” The Cubs score early — another first-inning run — then give up the lead and they behave like coming back is an impossible task. Which it was, today.

They did get to within 3-2 in the second. Nico Hoerner led off with a walk, advanced to third on two groundouts and scored on a single by Andrelton Simmons [VIDEO].

Somehow, that was Simmons’ seventh RBI as a Cub. I confess I cannot remember any of the other six.

So it’s 3-2. A close game! But that one-run lead might as well have been 10, or 100. After Morel followed Simmons with another single, eight straight Cubs went down before Willson Contreras singled in the fifth. Then eight more Cubs were retired in order — that’s 16 of 17 from the third through the seventh.

In the meantime, Swarmer gave up another run (actually scoring on a single off Scott Effross after Swarmer left the game) and Brandon Hughes gave up one, followed by David Robertson — who hadn’t pitched since last Friday due to all the losing — serving up a home run to Jurickson Profar in the eighth.

So by the time the Cubs put another run on the board it was 6-2 and that lead couldn’t have been touched by 100 Cubs batting in an inning, if you had given them 100 outs they’d have just made 100 outs in a row. I’m exaggerating... but not by much.

They made it 6-3 in the eighth when Contreras reached on an error and Ian Happ hit this double [VIDEO].

By then a lot of folks had left because it was really hot again, though less humid than the two night games. The Cubs managed one run off Padres closer Taylor Rogers in the ninth. Jonathan Villar tripled and scored on this ground ball by Frank Schwindel [VIDEO].

This is what I am reduced to. Showing you a Cubs run scoring on an out that brought them to within two runs, which might as well have been 20, or 200.

They did score more runs off Musgrove (two) than he had allowed in his previous 27 innings combined. So, yay?

There is no “yay” for the Cubs of late. This... is pathetic:

So the Cubs go into a weekend series with the Braves at Wrigley Field beginning Friday afternoon. The Braves are on a 14-game winning streak (one short of their franchise record). With the Cubs on a 10-game losing streak, I have wondered whether that’s the biggest differential between winning and losing streaks for teams playing each other. I don’t have the answer yet, if I can find out I’ll post it tomorrow. I sent this tweet out to someone I figured might know:

In the meantime, this season continues, and there are 99 games left. Sheesh, that’s a lot of games. This four-game sweep was the first for the Padres over the Cubs since 2010 (and just the second four-game sweep for San Diego over the Cubs all-time).

Friday afternoon’s series opener will match up Keegan Thompson for the Cubs and Charlie Morton for Atlanta. Game time is again 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.