Cubs not hitting on all cylinders early — or hitting much of anything else

CINCINNATI — All right, what happened to that soft early schedule the Cubs were promised? Where did all the tankers go?

When Ian Happ opened the season Thursday with a home run on the first pitch thrown in the majors, this was supposed to be the kind of wire-to-wire season for the Cubs that nobody had seen before. But in the last two days, the only unseen objects appeared to be the pitches thrown to Cubs hitters.

After 11 more strikeouts and nine more scoreless innings Monday, the Cubs were shut out for a second consecutive game for the first time since last May. And those games were against a good team — the eventual National League champion Dodgers.

The Cubs’ 1-0 loss in the opener of a two-game series against the low-expectations Reds, who didn’t so much as lead at any point in their opening three-game series against the Nationals, followed a 6-0 loss Sunday to the Marlins, everybody’s pick to finish with the worst record in the NL.

But first baseman Anthony Rizzo said it’s too early for any real frustration.

‘‘We have a fun group and a good group,’’ said Rizzo, who struck out on an up-and-away fastball from Raisel Iglesias to end the eighth inning and leave the bases loaded. ‘‘We’re not going to ride the roller coaster as hard as everyone else. We’ll just be fun.’’

It’s only five games into 162. And Reds rookie Tyler Mahle is a highly ranked prospect, a right-hander who last season pitched only the second perfect game in Southern League history.

‘‘He’s going to be really good,’’ Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. ‘‘You may not have heard of him before, but if he stays well, you’re going to hear of him in the future.’’

But that was the minors, and this was only Mahle’s seventh big-league start. And these are the NL Central favorite Cubs, and this was supposed to be a schedule set up for the fast start they didn’t achieve last season.

‘‘No one’s at their peak performance, but I’m not stressing,’’ new hitting coach Chili Davis said. ‘‘We’re five games into the season. We’re hoping for a fast start. It can still happen if we get some guys locked in. We’ll see where we go.

‘‘We are the Chicago Cubs. Guys are going to raise their game against us. I expect my offense to rise to the occasion, too.’’

Mahle struck out seven and allowed only one hit in six innings. Cubs starter Tyler Chatwood, meanwhile, struggled with his command through six precarious innings, walking six but stranding nine runners and allowing only one run on a triple and a groundout in the fourth.

‘‘We’ve been shut out pretty much three out of six games,’’ Maddon said, referring to a 2-1 loss Friday in 17 innings. ‘‘We’re going to hit. We’re a very good offensive club. It’s just what’s going on right now. I’m not going to make any excuses. We should have done better, but we’re going to do better.’’

Eighteen-inning and 15-inning scoreless stretches in the first five games against teams that are using the 2018 season to sort out their chances to win in the future weren’t part of the plan for a group of Cubs hitters who returned en masse from putting up the second-highest run total in the NL last season.

‘‘I’m not frustrated at all,’’ Davis said. ‘‘I’ve got a good offense. We’ve played five games. If I panic now, then something’s wrong. I’ve been around this game too long. I think guys are going to break out, and when they do, we’ll be fine.’’