Hitting one day, pitching the next — that’s how erratic Cubs roll

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Swing and a miss. Miguel Montero strikes out in the ninth.

MIAMI — You can’t blame it on the starting pitchers anymore.

At least not the last two full turns through the rotation.

Just when it looked like the starters were about to sink the Cubs’ championship defense — especially after ERA champ Kyle Hendricks went on the disabled list early this month — John Lackey has led a 10-game charge that has the rotation looking like a strength again.

Now they have to not only keep it up but figure out how to turn it into a hot streak. Even with another six impressive innings from Lackey on Friday night, the Cubs lost 2-0 to power-pitching Jose Urena and the Miami Marlins in the second game of a four-game series at Marlins Park.

“The difference 24 hours can make,” manager Joe Maddon said after the  follow-up to Thursday’s 11-1 win. “Hopefully, 24 hours will change it again.”

Lackey gave up just three hits and one earned run — Giancarlo Stanton’s third-inning home run — but a young and beat-up Cubs lineup managed just six hits and put runners on base with less than two outs just three times all night. All three of those runners were wiped out on double plays.

“They’re pretty young,” Lackey said of a lineup that included five players who weren’t in the majors on Opening Day 2015. “We’ve got a lot of guys still learning, still making adjustments to the game. But the talent’s there. You like our chances in the end for those guys to do good stuff.”

Meanwhile, the run production remains a roller-coaster ride that figures to continue.

“Up and down, up and down,” Maddon said. “It is youthful. Listen, I don’t want to keep saying that, but it’s true. It just is. These guys need more at-bats to figure out what to not swing at, and how to battle better utilizing [the whole field].”

That’s why the performance of the starting rotation — which regressed significantly from its MLB-best 2.96 ERA last year — is especially important to the Cubs’ efforts to break free from the .500 neighborhood and get back to the playoffs. Lackey’s performance lowered the rotation’s ERA to a 2016-like 2.35 over the last 10 games, even with sixth and seventh starters Eddie Butler and Mike Montgomery pressed into the mix.

“The last week or two, I definitely feel we’ve pitched pretty well,” said Lackey, who has only a split to show for allowing two earned runs in his last two starts (12 innings). “We’ve won a couple of low-scoring games where we’ve had to pitch well.

“And that’s where it all starts, for sure. If you’re going to be a consistent, winning team, you’ve got to have good starting pitching. Because the offense can kind of come and go a little bit easier than a good pitching staff.”

Case in point: That 10-game stretch of strong starting pitching led to only a 6-4 record, same as the previous 10 games, when the rotation ERA was 5.65.

Meanwhile, the Cubs will stay especially young as they wait for World Series MVP Ben Zobrist (wrist) and veteran right fielder Jason Heyward (hand) to return from the DL.

“I certainly have all the confidence in the world in everybody here,” said MVP third baseman Kris Bryant, who drew three walks Friday. “Last year was a great year for us, for everybody. Everybody seemed to be hitting at the right time, pitching good at the right time. Just everything clicked. This season it hasn’t been that way. But you look at many players, and many Hall of Fame players, and they’ve had some down years here and there. And it just seems like as a group we’re a little down right now, but plenty of time to turn it around.”

Follow me on Twitter @GDubCub.

Email: gwittenmyer@suntimes.com

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