3 Cubs Who Stood Out in Their Sixth-Straight Ugly Loss

The mid-May horrors continue to pile up for the Chicago Cubs (29-22), who dropped a sixth straight game on Friday in a 4-2 loss to the Houston Astros (21-31) at Wrigley Field.

The series-opening defeat means the Cubs have now lost nine of their last 11, a far cry from the team that was carrying a second 10-game win streak of the season into the beginning of the month.

The Cubs could not seem to shake the same issues that plagued their series losses to the Chicago White Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers. Here are three Cubs that stood out as the North Siders' woes continued.

Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki come up empty again

May 22, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs left fielder Ian Happ (8) looks on from the dugout before a baseball game against the Houston Astros at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Cubs entered the series against the Astros with an MLB-high 398 runners left on base. And in the five-game losing streak that preceded Friday's tilt, they left a whopping 36 runners on – along with a combined 6-for-42 (0.142) with runners in scoring position.

On Friday, they left 11 more stranded. And in multiple opportunities, the Cubs had their 4-5 tandem of Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki come up to the plate with RISP. Suzuki had already stranded two runners in the 1st when a groundout ended the threat brought by back-to-back two-out hits from Alex Bregman and Happ.

In the 3rd inning, a walk and two subsequent hit batters brought Happ up with the bases juiced and nobody out. Happ struck out. Suzuki then popped out to short, and Michael Conforto grounded out to give Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti his very own get-out-of-jail-free card. The Apple TV broadcast picked up a loud chorus of boos from the Wrigley faithful.

Two innings later, Michael Busch and Bregman worked back-to-back walks to bring Happ up with two on and one out. Happ struck out again. Suzuki followed with a flyout to end the frame.

Despite a rather hot start to his season, Suzuki has really struggled this season with RISP – his .140 average in those situations is fifth-worst among qualified hitters in MLB. Happ is just ahead of his teammate, hitting .148 with RISP in 2026.

You can chalk up a lot of the Cubs' current struggles to the heart of the order being unable to produce when it matters most, and it begs the question of whether Craig Counsell is willing to change things up in the near future.

Pete Crow-Armstrong's revenge

May 22, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (4) hits a two-run home run against the Houston Astros during the sixth inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Away from the bad and the ugly was the Cubs' sole offensive bright spot in Pete Crow-Armstrong, who really, really needed the two-run home run he crushed to the right field porch in the 6th inning. The 406-foot blast cut the Astros' lead in half and, for a moment, gave the Cubs and Crow-Armstrong a spark.

Crow-Armstrong has had a rough week, to say the very least. The Cubs' 24-year-old center fielder found himself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons during the Cubs' five-game skid, in a stretch that included a highly publicized verbal altercation with a White Sox fan (for which he later apologized) and two uncharacteristic errors in the series against the Brewers. He went just 2-for-17 at the plate over those five games.

But Friday was perhaps a new page for Crow-Armstrong, who took two walks to go along with the home run and was seeing the ball with patience and poise.

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