DENVER — Cubs right fielder Kyle Tucker chased the ball along the base of the wall as it caromed out of the corner and back the other way.
As he scooped it up and fired to his cutoff man, the Rockies’ Ryan Ritter crossed the plate with the winning run in the ninth inning Sunday at Coors Field, making Mickey Moniak the hero for his walk-off triple against Cubs closer Daniel Palencia.
The Cubs closed their three-city road trip — and the month of August — on a sour note, losing 6-5 to the Rockies, the worst team in the majors.
‘‘West Coast road trip’s always tough,’’ said left fielder Ian Happ, whose three-run home run in the eighth tied the score at 5. ‘‘We would have liked to win a couple of more games on this road trip. . . . Just the spot we’re in. We have the lead in the wild card, and we want to go after [the National League Central title]. It’s just [that] you have to take it one day at a time. As cliché as it is, we can’t think about the end of September right now.’’
After going 5-4 on the trip, the Cubs (78-59) still trailed the Brewers by 6½ games. With less than a month left in the regular season, they would need the Brewers to crumble to win the division.
So while a top seed and a first-round bye aren’t out of the question, the Cubs are more likely to make it into the playoffs through the wild card. They occupy the top NL wild-card spot right now and will host a best-of-three series if they can hold on to it.
‘‘Sometimes losing sight of the bigger picture is a good thing and makes you just focus on today,’’ manager Craig Counsell said in the middle of the trip. ‘‘We have to make decisions for the big picture still. I absolutely think that’s important for this group, and we will. But one day is not going to determine this thing; it’s a bunch of good days stacked up.’’
Narrowing that focus can become harder down the stretch, but that’s not necessarily because of the clock ticking as the season winds down.
‘‘Early in the year, the messages that we give each other and the confidence can be so simple because you haven’t really gone through anything yet,’’ shortstop Dansby Swanson said in a recent conversation with the Sun-Times. ‘‘The challenge is, as the year continues to go, you’ve gone through ups and downs as a team, you’ve gone through ups and downs as a player. You’ve slumped, you’ve been on fire.
‘‘And there’s so many different things that can cloud your mind, in a way, that the hardest thing to do is to simplify thoughts and feelings in order to be the best we can be.’’
The Cubs have seen the potential of their offense, which was the best in the majors in terms of runs scored for the first month and a half of the season and entered Sunday with the fourth-most runs scored in the NL.
They also have seen that offense slow as their power hitters slumped at the same time and, for the first couple of weeks of August, struggled mightily to hit with runners in scoring position.
They’ve seen their pitching carry them at times, but they also have had to weather injuries to their starting rotation and will face workload challenges as the season winds down.
The Cubs generally have a short memory, and that often has been one of their strengths. But this road trip — against three teams with sub-.500 records — featured extreme highs and lows.
The Cubs swept the Angels, then were swept in a three-game series for the first time this season by the Giants. They had an offensive breakout in the first game Friday against the Rockies, then stumbled in the series finale.
‘‘I still think we can play better,’’ said left-hander Matthew Boyd, who allowed four runs in six innings Sunday. ‘‘I think everyone believes that. The best part about it is we’re really excited about where we’re at and we still think there’s more room for us to grow.’’
Now the Cubs head back to Wrigley Field, where the atmosphere only has intensified, for six games against the struggling Braves and Nationals.
‘‘Whenever you get a chance to play in meaningful games in front of a crowd that we are fortunate to play in front of, it definitely elevates you,’’ Swanson said. ‘‘It puts you on the clouds a little bit. Whatever was bugging you may not be bugging you anymore because there’s something about it that fills you up.’’
