3 takeaways from the Chicago Cubs-Pittsburgh Pirates series, including an emphasis on placement over power

The Chicago Cubs dropped the series finale to the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field, a 4-3 loss Sunday after breaking out the bats for a 21-0 win the day before. Here are three takeaways from the four-game series in which the Cubs went 1-3.

The 25-year-old went just 5⅔ innings in two starts — both losses — against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday and the Pirates on Sunday, allowing seven earned runs on seven hits and seven walks with only three strikeouts.

Steele (1-2) struggled to control his four-seam fastball and slider early Sunday.

“As the game went on, kind of lost command of my four-seam and started losing my breaking ball arm side,” Steele said. “I felt like it was a bunch of deep counts.”

The Cubs pulled him after three innings after he gave up three runs on four hits with four walks and two strikeouts.

“I think I was kind of getting tired,” Steele said. “My front side was leaking a little bit instead of staying back on my back leg and keeping my ear over the rubber. That’s something that really helps. When I’m doing those two things, I feel like I command the ball a lot better.”

Steele started the season looking fairly strong, keeping the Milwaukee Brewers scoreless while fanning five batters April 9. He turned in a solid, 4⅓-inning performance at Colorado on April 14.

“When he does find those moments of (being) not synced up, it’s finding a rhythm to get back to that,” Cubs manager David Ross said before the game. “Just continue to grow, be himself, I think is going to be key throughout the season. Making sure we’re there to support him through the ups and downs of being a major-league starter.”

Ross doesn’t mind that the Cubs rank toward the middle of the majors with 13 home runs.

The Cubs have poured on the runs as steadily as April rain showers, tallying a league-leading 81 runs entering Sunday. Granted, roughly a quarter of that came in Saturday’s 21-0 beatdown of Pittsburgh.

“No complaints,” Ross said. “Twenty-one and airtight defense.”

That’ll do. But what the Cubs skipper really loved was the how.

In addition to being the largest shutout win since at least 1901, Saturday was the first time the Cubs piled on at least 21 runs with one or fewer home runs since a 24-2 win over the Boston Braves in 1945.

“I like home runs,” Ross said. “Everyone likes home runs. But I think we’re built to be contact-based.

“What I liked was it was (to) all fields. It was down the lines, beat some shifts there, finding holes. They made a couple mistakes. I feel like the barrel on the baseball puts a lot of pressure on the defense. A lot more things can go your way.”

All nine starters recorded hits, starting on a single from outfielder Seiya Suzuki in the Cubs’ second at-bat of the game.

The Pirates also provided a bit of help in the field with five errors over the weekend. The Cubs opened the scoring Sunday when Pittsburgh third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes couldn’t get his glove on a bouncing grounder from Willson Contreras.

There still is room for improvement, Ross said, even though the Cubs started Sunday with more hits (135) than any other team.

“We’re just going to have to continue to grind the at-bats, continue to grow and get better, get the ball in the air a little bit more at times,” Ross said.

Ian Happ — who earlier in the week wore a shirt that said “Launch angle is overrated” — obliged Ross on Sunday with a home run to left-center that had a 23-degree launch angle.

The Cubs outfielder admitted he was relieved to notch his first hit of the season Friday night — a two-run double in a 4-2 defeat.

The Ottawa, Ill., native snapped an 0-for-12 start at the plate with the double. He followed it up Saturday with a pinch-hit single.

“It’s something hard to ignore,” Hermosillo told the Tribune on Saturday. “But I feel like my results, maybe not having the results of the play, but I’d had good at-bats. I wasn’t too concerned, it was more about continuing to get the opportunity and take advantage of it.

“Definitely a little weight off the shoulders, but I definitely feel like there’s some other hits that could’ve (fallen) that just didn’t. Kind of just tried to stay with the process.”

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Hermosillo joked with teammates that he needed to keep the ball from Friday’s breakthrough as a souvenir.

“You could tell he was relieved,” first baseman Frank Schwindel said Saturday. “He’s an awesome teammate and a great guy to have around.”

The Cubs re-signed Hermosillo to a one-year, $600,000 deal after he made 16 appearances last season before a forearm strain cut his season short in September.

Schwindel said Hermosillo had been putting in plenty of work behind the scenes during the slump.

“The hardest thing to do is hit in the big leagues,” Schwindel said. “It’s even harder when you’ve got to come off the bench and do it or aren’t getting those starts every day. It’s great to see because his preparation is just as good as anybody. He’s in the (batting) cage, he’s watching video, he’s staying ready and doing everything he can to be ready for those moments.”

Gavin Good is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.