The fading Chicago Cubs open a three-game series against the host Kansas City Royals, hoping their first road trip after the All-Star break goes better than the six home games that preceded it.
Needing wins badly to climb into wild-card contention to start the second half, the Cubs saw their offense fall flat. They scored no more than three runs in any of the six games and lost two of three games each to the Arizona Diamondbacks and division rival Milwaukee Brewers.
"We pitched well," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. "We didn't score enough runs."
Chicago stranded 22 baserunners while batting 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position against Milwaukee.
"We just didn't do enough offensively," Counsell said after Wednesday's 3-2 loss. "It was very quiet. There wasn't any traffic. There wasn't any at-bats to put pressure on them. It was a light offensive day."
Following a season-best five-game winning streak when the Cubs scored at least four runs per game, the Cubs were within three games of .500 and 2 1/2 games of the third wild-card spot. But they have dropped six of nine games since then and lost all three series while scoring 24 total runs. Eight of those runs came in one of the victories.
The struggling offense could soon get a boost with the return of Cody Bellinger.
On the injured list with a non-displaced fracture of his left middle finger after being hit by a pitch July 10, Bellinger took part in a pregame workout Wednesday.
"He had a really good workout," Counsell said after Bellinger's on-field batting practice session Tuesday.
Bellinger is not expected to require a rehab assignment, and Counsell indicated he may initially use Bellinger in the designated hitter role upon his return.
Right-handers Kyle Hendricks (2-8, 6.69 ERA) and Brady Singer (6-6, 3.00) take the mound in Friday's opener.
Hendricks is 2-0 with a 1.40 ERA in three career starts covering 19 1/3 innings against the Royals. Most recently, he gave Kansas City just one unearned run over six innings on Aug. 20, 2023, in a 4-3 win.
Adam Frazier has two homers and two doubles while hitting .419 (13-for-31) with three RBIs and three walks against Hendricks.
In six starts since returning to the rotation June 19, Hendricks is 2-4 with a 4.45 ERA.
In two starts against the Cubs, Singer is 0-2 with an 8.31 ERA. Last Aug. 19, he took the loss after allowing six runs -- four earned -- on nine hits and two walks in 3 2/3 innings. He gave up two home runs.
Singer has allowed more than one run just once in his last six starts, and most recently, he tossed seven shutout innings against the White Sox on Saturday.
Jac Caglianone, the Royals' 2024 first-round draft pick (sixth overall), met with media in Kansas City on Wednesday afternoon shortly after signing with the club. He agreed to a $7.5 million signing bonus.
Caglianone was the 2024 John Olerud Award winner as the best collegiate two-way player. Caglianone hit .419 in 66 games with 35 homers -- second-most among Division I hitters -- and the left-hander was also 5-2 with a 4.76 ERA in 16 starts, helping the Florida Gators reach the College World Series semifinals.
Royals general manager J.J. Picollo addressed questions about whether Caglianone would focus on hitting or pitching.
"He had a full season pitching this year," Picollo said. "The priority right now is to just let him go out and hit. That's the commonsense thing to do."
Pitching may still be in Caglianone's future, however.
"I can see that happening," Royals area scout Nick Presto said. "He can do whatever he wants."
