{"id":689280,"date":"2026-05-23T21:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T21:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/689280\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T21:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T21:00:09","slug":"slumping-chicago-cubs-call-up-slugger-kevin-alcantara-leave-four-time-gold-glover-ian-happ-out-of-lineup-vs-houston-astros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/689280\/","title":{"rendered":"Slumping Chicago Cubs call up slugger Kevin Alcantara, leave four-time Gold Glover Ian Happ out of lineup vs. Houston Astros"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 The scuffling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/chicago-cubs\/240\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/team-page\/chicago-cubs\/240\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago Cubs<\/a> recalled outfielder Kevin Alc\u00e1ntara from Triple-A Iowa before their game Saturday against Houston and designated infielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/player\/nicky-lopez\/918022\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/player\/nicky-lopez\/918022\" target=\"_blank\">Nicky Lopez<\/a> for assignment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Slumping four-time Gold Glove left fielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/player\/ian-happ\/827194\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/player\/ian-happ\/827194\" target=\"_blank\">Ian Happ<\/a> was out of the lineup, replaced by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/player\/michael-conforto\/709038\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/mlb\/player\/michael-conforto\/709038\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Conforto<\/a> as Chicago tried to end a six-game losing streak. The Cubs are 2-10 following a 20-3 run that included two separate 10-game win streaks and had propelled them to 27-12, the best record in the majors on May 8.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The 23-year-old Alc\u00e1ntara was batting .242 with 15 home runs and 32 RBIs and a .906 OPS in 41 games with Iowa. His 15 homers were tied for the most by a Triple-A player entering Saturday. Alc\u00e1ntara has played in 13 games with the Cubs during call-ups over the past two seasons and has a .238 average with one RBI in 22 plate appearances.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Cubs acquired Lopez from Colorado on April 23. He went 0-for-5 in four games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Cubs have scored 18 runs during their six-game slide and Happ, in his 10th season, has struggled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The switch-hitting 31-year-old has only one hit and two walks in his past six games, while striking out 14 times in 26 plate appearances.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI think the thing from yesterday is we just need to give Ian a break,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cAnd look, we\u2019ve got a lot of guys not hitting. That\u2019s kind of why we\u2019re in the middle of this right?<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cBut I think Ian\u2019s feeling it the most and so he\u2019s the guy we\u2019re giving a break to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Counsell said Alc\u00e1ntara figures to see playing time as he shakes up his club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cKevin\u2019s on the roster,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cYou know there are spots to get him in there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">___<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">AP MLB: MLB &#8216; Latest News, Stats, and Scores<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Matt Carlson, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 The scuffling Chicago Cubs recalled outfielder Kevin Alc\u00e1ntara from Triple-A Iowa before their game Saturday&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-689280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}