After back-to-back blowout losses, Chicago Cubs must regroup before facing the World Series champion Houston Astros – The Denver Post

Chicago Cubs manager David Ross chalked up a blowout loss Saturday to the Minnesota Twins as a clunker, the type that occasionally happens over the course of 162 games.

And then Sunday arrived, an even uglier performance in a 16-3 trouncing by the Twins, whose 29 total runs scored against the Cubs set a record for a three-game series at Target Field — a ballpark that opened in 2010.

The Cubs needed infielder Miles Mastrobuoni to finish the game on the mound, entering with two outs in the eighth. Just as they walloped the Cubs pitching staff, the locked-in Twins teed off on Mastrobuoni, who allowed four runs on four hits, including a home run, before he recorded the elusive third out.

Any hope the Cubs’ series-opening victory Friday would set them up for a strong start to their…