Cubs eager to get struggling Alzolay back on track: 'We need Adbert'

CHICAGO -- Adbert Alzolay has the kind of energetic personality that paired perfectly with late-game situations and the Wrigley Field crowd behind him. When he was locked in as the Cubs’ closer, the righty punctuated saves with a ferocious fist pump fit for social-media reposts.

The way Alzolay won over fans in those moments made Friday’s eighth-inning scene all the more jarring. As the reliever walked off the hill in the aftermath of his latest tough appearance -- a three-run outburst for the Brewers that sent the Cubs to a 3-1 defeat -- a smattering of boos followed his footsteps.

“It’s hard to hear that,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.

Right now, Counsell is navigating a tricky situation with Alzolay, whose strong showing last summer helped him climb into the closer’s role. The Cubs’ bullpen is dealing with the absence of injured setup man Julian Merryweather, while having a few potential relief pieces helping an injury-ravaged rotation. That included 6 1/3 scoreless innings Friday from righty Hayden Wesneski.

The North Siders are also in the midst of a stretch of 16 games in 16 days that has added another complicating piece to Counsell’s innings puzzle. So when the Cubs carried a 1-0 lead into the eighth and the Brewers sent pinch-hitter Jackson Chourio to the plate with one out, the Cubs manager handed the ball to Alzolay.

“The situation we’re in,” Counsell said, “with just who we had available today, you can't just stay away from people. We just can’t in a stretch like this. So we went with the guy that was best suited for that spot in the lineup in that part of the game. And it just didn’t work.”

Alzolay got ahead of Chourio, 0-2, but the at-bat lasted eight pitches, ending with the Brewers rookie reaching on an infield single up the middle. Chourio then stole second base, setting up a hard-hit, RBI single to left off the bat of William Contreras. That initiated a pattern that Milwaukee used to its advantage.

Contreras stole second base and then scored on a Willy Adames grounder that skipped up the middle beyond the gloves of diving infielders Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner. Adames then stole second, giving Jake Bauers the chance to knock him in with a soft sinking liner that dropped into center field.

“It’s just a lot of thoughts going through your mind,” Alzolay said. “Because even when you feel like, ‘OK, it’s progressing,’ stuff keeps going on. I’m just not getting the results.”

In his past six outings, Alzolay has surrendered nine runs (six earned) on nine hits with more walks (three) than strikeouts (two). The righty allowed three homers in that stretch, including a three-run shot in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Mets in New York. On the year, Alzolay has given up five homers in 13 innings (after giving up five in 64 innings in 2023).

During this recent stretch, Counsell removed Alzolay from the ninth-inning duties in an effort to get him back on a roll in lower-leverage moments. Before this recent spell, the reliever opened the season with a 2.35 ERA in eight games. That stretch looked more like 2023, when Alzolay had a 2.67 ERA and 22 saves in 58 games for the Cubs.

“Last year was last year,” Alzolay said. “We’re in a new year. I’m still trying to figure out that part.”

One aspect of Alzolay’s early showing rose to the surface again on Friday.

Entering the afternoon, Alzolay had a 13.0% putaway rate with his slider this season, compared to a 24.7% rate in 2023. Against the Brewers, all four of the hits allowed by Alzolay came in two-strike counts, and three were against his slider.

Alzolay headed into his meeting with Milwaukee with a .609 slugging percentage allowed off his slider (up from .311 last season). The righty had also yielded a .667 slugging percentage on his sinker this year, compared to a .204 mark in 2023. Alzolay’s four-seamer, while down a touch in velocity (94.6 mph average in ‘24 vs. 95.3 mph in ‘23), has been mostly effective.

The Cubs are sorting through these elements and searching for a way to get Alzolay back on track.

“That's what we're trying to figure out,” Counsell said. “We need Adbert. We need Adbert to be an effective member of the bullpen and we need to keep giving him opportunities to do that.”

Alzolay shrugged off the boos from the crowd on Friday.

“If you let that get to you,” he said, “then you’ve got a much bigger problem.”