Cubs offense 'not good enough' in loss to Guardians

CLEVELAND — Something was off with the Cubs on Friday.

Aside from Cade Horton’s injury status being up in the air, the team looked discombobulated, particularly in the seventh.

Reliever Hunter Harvey needed 30 pitches to get through ⅔ of an inning, allowing three runs on two hits with a walk and no strikeouts. Right-hander Jacob Webb relieved Harvey and needed 12 pitches to get the final out.

Aside from the runs, the team unraveled in the seventh. There was the fielding error by center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong that allowed Guardians All-Star Jose Ramirez to advance to second after his line-drive single. Second baseman Nico Hoerner also bobbled a routine ground ball before getting the out at first to end the inning.

Though Horton's injury loomed over the game, the Cubs still weren’t good enough in Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Guardians.

“Offensively, that just wasn't enough today,” manager Craig Counsell said. “We didn't create traffic, really. We created one inning of good scoring [opportunities] and didn't cash in on it, but not enough offensively.”

The Cubs were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

After Miguel Amaya’s RBI double in the third inning, the Cubs totaled just 2 hits the rest of the game. The offense failed to put much pressure on Guardians left-hander Joey Cantillo, who cruised throughout Friday’s game, controlling the Cubs’ lineup.

Cantillo was good at “playing the front and back game” with his velocity. He generated most of his whiffs (six of 10) with his changeup that flummoxed the Cubs’ lineup.

“His changeup is just kind of a floating changeup, but [it] just feels like it never gets there,” Counsell said. “So you either get it off the end or you get beat by a fastball.”

ABS one-week review

The implementation of the Automated Ball-Strike System was going to take some time for teams to adjust to. Though many focus on the number of calls that umpires get wrong, Counsell is looking at it from a different perspective.

“We've had some games already where it's like, ‘Man, that umpire was unbelievable,’” Counsell said. “And I wish that would actually get highlighted a little more in this new system. We should highlight how good some of the umpires are, which we don't, but we should.

“I mean, the first day of the Angels series, the umpire was brilliant; he was incredible. [He saw] 270 pitches [and] he missed, like, two of them."

Entering Friday, catcher Carson Kelly had challenged four calls behind the plate, winning three and losing one. He’s gained two strikes and eliminated a walk through six games.

But Counsell is holding off on judging ABS until after three weeks, which he feels is an appropriate amount of time to assess the system. He wants to see more information about it proliferate through more video and data.

Suzuki rehab assignment

Right fielder Seiya Suzuki began his rehab assignment at Double-A Knoxville on Friday. Suzuki is recovering from a PCL strain that he suffered playing for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic.

The plan is for him to play five innings in right field, and Suzuki could return on the Cubs' six-game road trip if the knee is feeling good after a couple of games.