Maddie Lee

2 weeks ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Maddie Lee

DETROIT – A three-game series against the top team in the American League knocked the Cubs out of their spot atop the National League. Their 4-0 loss to the Tigers (43-24) in the rubber match Sunday gave the Cubs a 40-25 record. And over the weekend, the Mets (42-24) sped past them on a three-game winning streak. “I’ve played in Detroit plenty,” said right-hander Jameson Taillon, who pitched Saturday. “I’ve never seen the stadium like this, with this kind of energy, which is really cool.

2 weeks ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Maddie Lee

DETROIT – Nico Hoerner turned to face home plate umpire Derek Thomas immediately after the strike call. The strikeout pitch had been low and inside. “I don’t think it’s really that often you can verbatim say to the press afterwards what got you thrown out,” Hoerner said Sunday after the Cubs’ 4-0 loss to the Tigers. This was the exception. “I said, ‘You’re having a really bad day,’” Hoerner recalled. It was an inflection point in the game. The Cubs were trailing 2-0 in the top of the fifth inning.

2 weeks ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Maddie Lee

DETROIT – The crackle of wood buckling under contact suggested Nico Hoerner had hit the ball off the handle of his bat. The swinging bunt dribbled toward the left side of the infield. By contrast, Hoerner broke hard out of the batter’s box and beat Tigers third baseman Zach McKinstry’s on-the-run throw to first base. The Cubs would go on to beat the Tigers 6-1, charged by five home runs. But at the time, in the top of the fifth inning, the Cubs were clinging to a one-run lead.

2 weeks ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Maddie Lee

DETROIT – Pete Crow-Armstrong made sure to rub it in that he was still leading the Cubs’ home run race over Seiya Syzyki after a 6-1 win Saturday against the Tigers. “I let him know today that he had to hit two, and I’ve still got him,” Crow-Armstrong said with a grin after the game. “I said, any day that he hits a home run, I’m going to have to do it as well.

3 weeks ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Maddie Lee

DETROIT – Cubs designated hitter Seiya Suzuki’s opposite-field fly ball kept carrying. And as Tigers right-fielder Kerry Carpenter stutter-stepped into a leap at the wall, it looked like it might put the Cubs ahead. Instead, Carpenter corralled the would-be double headed for the top of the right-field wall to snuff out the Cubs’ hopes of an eighth-inning rally.