CHICAGO -- Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman put the blame for his team's offensive woes squarely on himself after going 0-for-5 and making the last out in his team's 2-1 loss in 10 innings to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday night.
"I've been terrible," Bregman said. "I need to play better. Offensively, it's been awful. I've failed many times in this game. I've struggled. I've started slow before. I've started fast before. When you're struggling, there is only one way forward and that's straight, head-on through it. It comes down to executing in the game."
Bregman is in the first year of a five-year, $175 million contract he signed with Chicago in the offseason after spurning offers to return to the Boston Red Sox, with whom he produced an OPS of .821 last year while also spending a considerable amount of time on the injured list. The Cubs expected him to produce at the plate and in the clubhouse. He has been accountable for his poor season, but he can't break out of his seasonlong slump after playing for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic in March.
"I haven't executed all year," Bregman said. "Runners in scoring position, I've been god-awful. I need to be better. If I'm better over the last how many games, we probably win the majority of them."
The Cubs have not led entering the ninth inning of a home game in a month. If not for two walk-off wins last week, they'd be on a 12-game home losing skid after winning their previous 15 in a row at Wrigley Field. Their offense has been a huge contributor to the woes, led by Bregman, who saw his OPS drop to .669 after Sunday's defeat. He is hitting .178 with runners in scoring position.
"I need to be better with runners on base, plain and simple," Bregman said. "They brought me here to play good baseball, and I haven't played good baseball. I need to figure it out."
Bregman was asked if he has a path forward or if he's still searching for answers. The veteran has just 15 extra-base hits on the season.
"One-hundred-percent," he said of knowing what's wrong. "Some mechanical things that are off that are setting everything off. It's putting me in between: out in front on soft and late on fastballs. Haven't covered anything from the middle of the plate, in, all year. Getting too disconnected, too separated."
Bregman is hitting just .135 on at-bats that end on a breaking pitch. That's not even the lowest on the team.
Shortstop Dansby Swanson is worst among all qualified hitters in MLB with a .106 batting average on breaking pitches. Swanson was benched for the past two games.
Combined with pitching injuries, the Cubs' offense has helped tank the club in the standings. On May 7, the Cubs led the National League Central by 3.5 games. Exactly a month later, they trail the Milwaukee Brewers by 7.5 games. It has led to a rarity at Wrigley Field: booing.
"Those can be directed at me because I haven't come through with guys in scoring position," Bregman said. "I have plenty of chances. Guys are getting on base in front of me all the time."
On Sunday, Bregman lined into a double play with a runner on third base in the eighth inning then popped out to short to end the game with a runner on third in the 10th.
"The work [before the game] was the best it's been all year, but none of that matters at all," Bregman said. "I have to come through in the game.
"It's time to start coming through."
