Owen Caissie\u2019s<\/b> first Wrigley Field weekend as a Cub was nearly spent as nothing more than a spectator.<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s top prospect, who was summoned from Triple-A Iowa for his big-league debut Thursday in Toronto, didn\u2019t see any action in the three-game series against the Pirates until a pinch-hit popout in the seventh inning in the Cubs\u2019 4-3 victory Sunday.<\/p>\n
It hasn\u2019t been that long since manager Craig Counsell<\/b> talked about a desire to only promote young players if there were opportunities for regular playing time, and there didn\u2019t figure to be much opportunity for Caissie to crack an outfield that boasts three All-Stars, with middle-of-the-order bat Seiya Suzuki<\/b> the Cubs\u2019 regular designated hitter.<\/p>\n
Counsell said as much when asked about Caissie\u2019s omission from his lineups.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a pretty good group of outfielders here,\u2019\u2019 Counsell said. \u2018\u2018Owen\u2019s got to cross that bar. We\u2019re going to play the best guys every day. .\u2009.\u2009. And this is why we wrestled with calling him up, at times, because of the group of outfielders we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
But given the team\u2019s scoring struggles \u2014 in 15 games this month, the Cubs have scored more than four runs only three times \u2014 and the ongoing slumps of Ian Happ<\/b>, Pete Crow-Armstrong<\/b>, Kyle Tucker<\/b> and Suzuki, the thought of Caissie finding an opening isn\u2019t so crazy, especially to a fan base frustrated by the lack of offense.<\/p>\n
Caissie, though, didn\u2019t get anything more than that lone at-bat during a low-scoring weekend. And now the Cubs head into a pivotal five-game series with the division-leading Brewers in need of an offensive jolt.<\/p>\n
Going by what Caissie did in Iowa, he could be capable of providing it. He had a .955 OPS and hit 22 home runs in 93 Triple-A games this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cSlumps, it\u2019s a small look at somebody,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cAre you good enough to tell me the day they\u2019re going to be themselves? Are any of us good enough to do that? So you default to playing the best players, with rest and all those other things taken into consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s leaving Caissie on the bench or keeping hitters who are succeeding, such as second baseman Nico Hoerner<\/b> and third baseman Matt Shaw<\/b>, at the bottom of the lineup, Counsell is continuing to show trust that the assemblage of hitters that produced such a strong first half can reheat in time to keep the NL Central race interesting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a good baseball team that\u2019s proven itself,\u201d Counsell said Saturday. \u201cWe haven\u2019t scored some runs in a little bit of a stretch here. We will because this is a good offense.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018That makes me optimistic, and it makes me know that we will score runs. We will be a good offense. So it\u2019s easy to maintain that consistency.\u201d<\/p>\n
An eventual Amaya return?<\/b><\/p>\n
Injured catcher Miguel Amaya<\/b> could be back before the end of the season, Counsell said.<\/p>\n
He said that Amaya, who sprained his ankle during the series against the Blue Jays last week, is dealing with a \u201cmoderate\u201d sprain but might not be done for the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to take awhile,\u201d Counsell said. \u201c[Him returning for] the end of the season is not out of the question.\u201d<\/p>\n
Milwaukee had barely pulled out the previous two games in Cincinnati for its longest streak ever within one season and the longest in the majors since the St. Louis Cardinals won 17 straight from Sept. 11 to Sept. 28, 2021.<\/p>\n
The Cubs scored a series victory over the Pirates and gained a game on the division-leading Brewers, whose franchise-record winning streak ended on the eve of a five-game series between the teams at Wrigley Field.<\/p>\n
The Brewers\u2019 surge to the top of the NL Central has been enjoyed by the baseball world at large, but not in Wrigleyville, where the Cubs have plummeted out of first place to an increasingly distant second.<\/p>\n
Caissie made his major-league debut Thursday but was out of the Cubs’ starting lineup in all three games of their series against the Pirates, only appearing as a pinch hitter in the last game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":79454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n