After moving into first place last Thursday, the Cubs have lost six straight games, a stretch in which they allowed at least four runs in five games and scored just nine, in total, themselves. An offense that seemed to get going on a nine-game homestand is hitting .152 since landing in California, striking out in 25 percent of its trips to the plate.
Going into Wednesday’s 2-1 loss, the starting rotation had no quality starts, not a single start into the seventh inning, and 26 runs allowed in 23 1/3 innings. Eddie Butler’s poor performance on Tuesday night — six runs in 4 1/3 frames — extended a ghastly problem before Jake Arrieta finally turned in six innings of one-run ball.