3 Pressing Thoughts After the Cubs' Brutal Loss to Phillies

2. Ben Brown's Inconsistency is a Problem

The other big storyline was Cubs starter Ben Brown, who again struggled to find his command. Several deep counts came after Brown failed to locate his pitches, which seemed to either be off the plate of right over the heart of the zone on too many occasions. 

One of those occasions was a 431 ft. blast off the bat of Kyle Schwarber that was depositied into deep right-center field. The right-hander's final line featured the Phillies tagging him for eight hits, six earned runs, and three walks to go with Brown's five strikeouts. Brown just looked uncomfortable from the jump as he gave up three runs in the first inning, which increased his ERA in the first frame to 10.5 on the year. 

This is a major issue since the Cubs are currently relying on a rookie in Cade Horton and a guy who has typically performed as a back of the rotation starter in Colin Rea as starters right now. There isn't a lot of room for error for Brown, but he has failed to be consistent enough to warrant keeping in the starting rotation. He only has three quality starts on the year and has allowed opposing hitters to compile a .279 batting average against him with a WHIP of 1.47. 

When Shota Imanaga returns from the injured list, there's a good chance the Cubs send Brown back to Triple-A to figure things out, because the feast or famine pattern can't cut it for much longer. As long as Horton is still fairing well, this could be the path forward. 

3. Sitting PCA was a Mistake

Another peculiar thing about this game was Manager Craig Counsell's lineup, which featured all right-handed hitters aside from Tucker. Luzardo's splits are very bad against righties (although that didn't matter much), but sitting Pete Crow-Armstrong was definitely a strange decision. 

In place of his budding superstar, who has 17 home runs by the way, Counsell tabbed Vidal Brujan with the start in center field. Brujan is fine on defense, but he is a complete liablility at the plate. The guy only has five hits in 25 plate appearances this year, with zero walks, and six strikeouts. When you're trying to win a series against one of the best teams in the National League, I don't really understand sitting the guy who has been your best hitter over the last two months. 

Brujan's numbers aside, Crow-Armstrong has not been so poor against lefties that he deserves to sit against them. In 74 at-bats against southpaws this year, Crow-Armstrong has three homers, 14 RBIs, and 13 hits. That's much better than what Brujan brings to the table. 

According to Marquee Sports Network's Taylor McGregor, it was a planned day off for Crow-Armstrong since therew as a lefty on the mound. This is a long stretch of games the Cubs have without a lot of days off so you're going to have to work in some rest days, but it was still not ideal.