CLEVELAND — For 16 innings Sunday, Chicago Cubs left fielder Ian Happ produced a forgettable day at the plate.

Happ had, at one point, struck out in six consecutive at-bats in the doubleheader against the Cleveland Guardians. When the Cubs needed a big swing, though, he came through. In the eighth inning of Game 2, Happ slugged his fourth home run of the season to put the Cubs back ahead after Cleveland erased their lead with a three-run sixth inning.

Happ’s heroics, however, were wasted.

The Guardians answered with another three runs in the bottom half of the inning to hand the Cubs a 6-5 loss to split Sunday’s doubleheader.

“You gotta try your best to stay in the moment,” Happ said. “This game can eat you alive, and it’s tough when you’re not feeling right and you’re going to get eight or nine at-bats in the day, you can’t dwell on it. Obviously, a really tough start and didn’t feel like I was seeing it very well and just kept trying to make adjustments to get myself to a place where I could recognize the pitch.”

Down two in the ninth, the Cubs managed to put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position following Happ’s two-out RBI single off Cade Smith, but catcher Carson Kelly struck out to end the game.

Left-hander Shota Imanaga surrendered one run and three hits in five-plus innings but earned a no-decision. Imanaga has walked two batters or fewer in a career-high 22 consecutive starts, the longest streak by a Cubs pitcher since Alec Mills’ 24-straight starts (Sept. 19, 2020, to July 2, 2022).

But the Guardians got to right-hander Ben Brown in relief (two runs, two walks in two innings) to tie the game. Reliever Jacob Webb’s shaky command — including one walk, three hits and a home run — led to three runs in the eighth and ultimately made the difference in Game 2.

“It’s not always going to look great,” manager Craig Counsell said. “You’re going to go through times when it’s not pretty, but the next at-bat’s the chance to change things and make an impact on the game. And Ian’s been through that, and he did it today.”

After rain washed out Saturday’s game — setting up only the Cubs’ second doubleheader against an American League team (2014 against the New York Yankees) — the cold conditions with a wind chill in the 30s didn’t create an ideal hitting environment Sunday.

“It’s more mental, everyone knows it’s cold, so you’ve gotta go out there and compete and control what you can control,” catcher Miguel Amaya said. “You can’t control the weather. So just go out there, have fun and do the little things.”

The Cubs strung together just enough offense to take Game 1, 1-0. Right-hander Edward Cabrera worked around five walks for 5 2/3 shutout innings and Amaya’s one-out RBI single in the eighth stood as the game’s lone run. The Guardians finished with just one hit on a double that landed over right fielder Michael Conforto’s head. Conforto initially took a couple of steps in and couldn’t recover to make a play on a ball that had a .050 expected average.

Conforto redeemed himself with a leadoff walk in the eighth. Dylan Carlson replaced him as a pinch runner, advanced to second on Matt Shaw’s sacrifice bunt and scored when Amaya roped a 1-2 fastball from Guardians reliever Connor Brogdon to right-center field.

The Cubs’ defense preserved a scoreless game in the sixth as Cleveland put together its biggest threat. With the infield playing in, second baseman Nico Hoerner threw out CJ Kayfus, running from third on contact, at home aided by a stellar catch and tag by Amaya. The Guardians went on to load the bases following back-to-back walks issued by Cabrera, but the Cubs got out of it thanks to reliever Caleb Thielbar forcing Bo Naylor to pop out to end the inning.

“Nico made an amazing play, it’s not easy to throw it in the right spot,” Amaya said. “I was just ready to catch it wherever he throws it, and thank God it wasn’t in the lane of the runner so we could get that out.”

The Cubs need more consistency from their lineup, which has scuffled through their first nine games. They get a more controlled environment during their next three games in Tampa’s domed Tropicana Field and will soon have Seiya Suzuki back in the lineup. Suzuki will continue his rehab assignment with Double A, playing for the Knoxville Smokies on Tuesday and Wednesday before rejoining the Cubs on Friday at Wrigley Field.

These first three series of the season are too small of a sample size to become overly concerned, particularly given the Cubs’ hard-hit rate, which ranked second in MLB entering the series.

But constantly putting pressure on their pitching staff to be near-perfect isn’t a winning formula, either.

“I think you can safely say we’re going to need to score more runs to win, yes,” Counsell said. “But I think making any judgments right now about the offense as a group is very premature.”

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