Chicago Cubs cling to wild-cart spot after 6-4 loss to Arizona Diamondbacks, who clinched head-to-head tiebreaker – The Denver Post

Justin Steele has often single-handedly kept the Chicago Cubs in games over the last six months.

That has especially been true lately. Five of his previous six starts featured games decided by two runs or fewer, all of which the Cubs won with Steele on the mound. So when the Arizona Diamondbacks tagged Steele for a pair of three-run home runs in the first and sixth innings to bookend his start Friday, the Cubs needed the offense to step up and help him out.

Instead, the offense managed just five base runners through the first eight innings — four singles and a walk — and failed to have a runner advance past first base. Although the Cubs showed life in the ninth behind home runs by Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki and Christopher Morel, the Diamondbacks closed it out to hand them a 6-4…