Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (5/23/26): Astros 3, Cubs 0 – Unlucky 7th Consecutive Loss at Wrigley
The Cubs’ skid showed no sign of stopping Saturday with a seventh consecutive loss. The Astros completely stifled the home team, shutting them out in front of the restless Wrigley Field audience.
In a very familiar pattern, Houston took an early lead when Christian Walker hit a two-run homer against Colin Rea in the top of the 1st inning. Chicago had no answers for starter Kai-Wei Teng, who allowed only two hits in six scoreless frames.
Walker added a solo homer in the top of the 4th to increase the Astros’ advantage to 3-0. The North Siders never even threatened the rest of the way, dropping the game and a fifth consecutive series. (Box score)
Key Moment
The Cubs fell behind immediately, which has been a huge problem during this entire stretch of bad play.
Why the Cubs Lost
They did not have any issues hitting with runners in scoring position because they did not get any such at-bats. Not surprisingly, they were unable to score with so little action on the bases.
Stats That Matter
- Rea did a pretty good job against everyone outside of Walker: 7 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 4 K, and 3 BB.
- Chicago had just three singles, and one came on a dropped infield pop-up.
Bottom Line
Craig Counsell shook up the lineup, but the results did not change at all. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet to turn things around, no brilliant managerial strategy that will cause an offensive explosion. The hitters on the roster have to start performing like they did less than a month ago. If they don’t do that, there is nothing that will stop this current nosedive.
On Deck
Chicago tries to salvage the final game of the series and avoid consecutive sweeps on Sunday at 1:20pm CT. Shōta Imanaga faces Peter Lambert in a contest televised on Marquee with a radio feed on The Score.
