Game Recap: Cubs blanked by Astros

Erik Williams - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 6 hours ago

HOUSTON - As good as the Chicago Cubs (49-35) have been this season, they have no chance at a deep playoff run, let alone a Central Division title, unless they can figure out how to hit left-handed pitching. For whatever reason, left-handed pitching has been the Cubs' kryptonite this season as they rank near the bottom in all of baseball against Southpaws.

Chicago has seen a lot of lefties in recent weeks, including Houston Astros (50-34) ace Framber Valdez on Sunday as it was more of the same for the Cubs in this one as a Jose Altuve two-run shot would be all the offense the Astros would need in a 2-0 shutout win. Valdez was about as good as you can expect him to be, as the left-hander scattered five hits across six shutout innings and six strikeouts.

Had it not been for the effort of Jameson Taillon and the Cubs' pitching staff, this game could have gotten out of hand early, as Taillon needed 107 pitches to get through 4 2/3 innings. Despite that, he was well on his way to having another great start as he walked one and struck out four while allowing the two-run homer to Altuve that gave the Astros the win.

As tough as Valdez was, the Cubs had their chances against him, especially in the first when Kyle Tucker picked up a one-out double only to be left stranded. Stranding runners was the theme of the early innings as the Astros responded with a pair of singles from Isaac Paredes and Jake Myers to lead things off in the bottom of the first, only to have Taillon escape without any damage.

Those were two of the five hits charged to Taillon as the Cubs right-hander got back to doing what he does best on the mound. With neither team able to generate much of anything offensively in this one, you knew runs were going to be at a premium as this became a case of which pitching staff would crack first.

Unfortunately, it was the Cubs who would crack as the Astros picked up the lone runs in the game in the bottom of the fifth to have the Cubs playing from behind again. After Luis Guillorme led off the bottom of the fifth with a single, Taillon came close to escaping another jam without damage. That was until Altuve made him pay for one mistake, as that mistake ended up in the Crawford Boxes to put the Astros on top 2-0.

Those would be the only runs the Astros would need, as the Cubs' inability to hit left-handed pitching is starting to become comical, more so than frustrating. With Valdez back out to pitch the seventh, the Cubs' offense started to show signs of life for the first and realistically the only time in this one as Carson Kelly opened the seventh off with a leadoff double.

That was followed by an infield single from Nico Hoerner to put a pair on with no outs, and just like that, Valdez was out of the game as Bryan Abreu took over from there. You want to talk about pure domination, not only did Abreu retire all six of the hitters he faced, but he did so with overpowering stuff as he struck out four of the six hitters he faced to keep the Cubs off the board entering the ninth.

As if facing Abreu wasn't tough enough, why not face Josh Hader as the Astros' closer took over for the ninth with a chance to stay perfect in save opportunities. As was the case with Abreu in the seventh and eighth innings, Hader dominated in the ninth as he retired the Cubs to secure his 23rd save of the season and closed out another home series victory 2-0.

It's no secret that June, particularly the second half of June, has been a struggle for this team, as their division lead has gone from 6.5 games down to two.

Despite the struggles, the Cubs still managed to finish the month around .500, as they hope that July and beyond bring better fortunes than the second half of June showed.

Chicago will get a much-needed day off on Monday before opening July with a massive homestand against the Cleveland Guardians and St. Louis Cardinals.