Chicago Cubs Skipper Shares Honest Thoughts About Mistake-Ridden Loss

It was an ugly loss for the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, and their manager shared some thoughts on what unfolded.

Mar 4, 2024; Peoria, Arizona, USA; Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell / Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Cubs are hoping they can build upon their great month of April where they became only the third team in franchise history to hit a certain win mark.

Heading into their game on Wednesday, they'll have to flush out their most recent result that saw them drop a contest due to their own mistakes.

The Cubs lost 4-2 against the New York Mets on Tuesday which evened their four-game series at one apiece. While losses certainly happen throughout the long schedule, the way this one unfolded should have been avoided.

All four of the Mets' runs came because of errors from Chicago's fielders.

In the first inning, Francisco Lindor made it to third base after Patrick Wisdom made an errant throw to second when it looked like the runner was going to be picked off easily. One batter later, Pete Alonso hit a sacrifice fly that brought in New York's first run.

The Cubs were able to even things up the very next frame, so the damage was mitigated.

However, the knockout blow came in the sixth inning when their Gold Glove-winning shortstop made a throwing error that gave the Mets another out.

With the shaky Adbert Alzolay on the mound, he recorded the first out of the inning on a pop up. He got the next batter to hit a grounder to Dansby Swanson in what should have been a routine out.

Instead, the shortstop threw the ball outside of Wisdom's glove radius and it allowed J.D. Martinez to reach first base.

Three batters later, after Alzolay got what should have been the inning's third out, he gave up a three-run bomb that put New York up 4-1, a lead they never relinquished.

"I just made a bad throw. It's not a good throw. Obvious, it came back to bite us," Swanson told reporters after the game.

That loss pushed Chicago out of the NL Central lead, and in a race that will be so tightly contested and might have to be won to get into the playoffs, it's something that can't happen.

Manager Craig Counsell knows that and said as much following the game.

"It's a play he's got to make and he just didn't make it. We didn't play good enough defense tonight. We gave them a run in the first. The [Swanson] error contributed to the sixth inning as well. We got burned by not capitalizing on some outs tonight," he said according to Bill Ladson of MLB.com.

That wasn't the only mistake he addressed, either.

His former closer Alzolay continues to struggle in big spots during games.

"He just made a mistake with the fastball. He put a fastball in a bad spot and [DJ Stewart] took a good swing," the skipper said.

Bullpen has continued to be a spot that has given the Cubs issues. They thought they were able to make requisite upgrades during the offseason to improve that unit , but so far, they have not gotten the returns they were hoping for.