Why the Cubs are in serious trouble in NL Central after losing to Reds on Friday

The Chicago Cubs have been one of the streakiest teams in Major League Baseball this season. The Cubs have been riding the power bats of Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki to make noise in the National League and attempt to challenge the Milwaukee Brewers for National League Central superiority.

However, the Cubs have dropped three painful games in a row and manager Craig Counsell could see his team fall 8.0 games behind the Brewers if Milwaukee is victorious against the Texas Rangers Friday night.

Chicago’s latest loss was a 10-8 defeat to the Cincinnati Reds as the Cubs returned home to Wrigley Field to take on the last place team in the NL Central. While the Cubs offense responded with six extra-base hits, including home runs by Michael Busch and Pedro Ramirez, the pitching fell apart in the middle innings and allowed the Reds to score 5 runs in the sixth inning. The Reds blasted four home runs to gain the edge on the Cubs.

Chicago reliever Trent Thornton was victimized in the sixth inning as he gave up 5 runs, all of them earned, and he allowed 2 home runs.

The Cubs have lost 6 of their last eight games. After dropping the series finale to the cross-town Chicago White Sox, the Cubs lost 2 of 3 games to the Seattle Mariners.

They closed that series with a 19-2 triumph and followed that with a series-opening 7-0 victory against the Diamondbacks. However, they dropped the last two games to the Diamondbacks.

Pete Crow-Armstrong is battling for the NL MVP award and has hammered 33 home runs. Ian Happ has contributed 23 long balls and Seiya Suzuki has blasted 22 homers. Nevertheless, the Cubs are struggling to win and the Central Division crown appears to be out of their reach.

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