After leaving runners on base 16 times during their two weekend losses, the Cubs spent part of Monday afternoon working on situational hitting.
The sessions in the batting cage under the right-field bleachers addressed the Cubs’ recent inability to make the most out of scoring opportunities. In the last six games, the Cubs are averaging about eight stranded runners.
“We’ve left too many runners out there to this point,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “We’ve had some games where we scored six, seven runs. You can say we should win with six, seven runs, but we should have scored eight or nine. Our players feel that way. We could have won another game or two.”
Entering Monday night’s game, the Cubs were third in the National League in runs scored (106) and sixth in runners left on base.
Rough times: Since his first start, when he pitched eight scoreless innings and picked up the win, Jim Bullinger (1-1) has struggled to regain his pitching touch.
Bullinger’s last three starts have gone only a total of 13 innings and he has given up 15 runs, 18 hits (including four homers), 11 walks and struck out 9. His earned-run average during that stretch: 10.38.
“I have to get him into more normal situations,” said Riggleman, referring to one start in the thin air of Colorado’s Coors Field and two more in cold conditions at Wrigley Field.
Bullinger will get his chance on the next road trip. He is scheduled to start in San Diego against the Padres.
Blackout: WGN-Ch. 9 had a power failure Monday night in a critical situation. The Rockies, already leading 4-2, had two runners on and one out when the picture went blank, caused, officials said, by a regulator losing power to the truck. When the station returned for the bottom of the ninth, it used the radio feed.