Brewers' Pat Murphy has strong speculation regarding Cubs' situation with Kyle Tucker

The Chicago Cubs took game one of today's doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field by a score of 6-4, evening this week's pivotal five-game series at one game apiece. However, notably absent from the Cubs' lineup was 4x All-Star Kyle Tucker.

Tucker is in the midst of a brutal stretch at the plate. Since the calendar flipped to August, the Cubs' major offseason acquisition is slashing just .148/.233/.148 with zero extra-base hits and one RBI. It's a shocking slump from someone who posted a .982 OPS in the month of June.

Yesterday, after another 0-4 day at the plate for Tucker, boos rained down from the stands at the "Friendly" Confines as the Cubs' superstar recorded the final out in the 8th inning. With his scuffling right fielder in a downward spiral, Craig Counsell announced in his postgame conference that the Cubs were going to "take a little step back" with Tucker. That step back entailed giving him a few days off to reset and find his swing again, with Counsell announcing that Tucker would not be in the lineup for the second leg of yesterday's twin bill. After the night game was postponed, fans awaited to see whether or not Tucker would return to the lineup on Tuesday, but when the lineups were released his name was nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, Pat Murphy offered his interpretation of the Kyle Tucker situation on 670 The Score this morning and it could provide the explanation that Cubs fans have been searching for as to why one of their best players' production has fallen off a cliff.

Pat Murphy suggests that Kyle Tucker is playing through an injury which is impacting his performance

Talking to the radio personalities of 670 The Score, a Chicago-based sports radio station, this morning, Murphy was quoted saying, "I think Tucker is hurt. I don't have any information, but Tucker's not the same. He's hurt, and he's playing through it. He's such a class kid that he probably doesn't mention it to anyone."

Murphy clearly said that he doesn't have any inside information on the subject, but he and Counsell are obviously close — not only was Murphy Counsell's bench coach during the latter’s tenure as the Brewers' manager, but he was also Counsell's college coach at Notre Dame — meaning they certainly discussed their respective teams with each other ahead of this week's important five-game set. Murphy may have picked up on something that suggested Tucker is playing through an injury and choosing not to be very vocal about it.

However, where Murphy's theory falls through is the fact that the Cubs have elected not to place Tucker on the IL yet. An IL stint, if he actually is suffering from a minor injury, would be the perfect reset for the Cubs' star, and it would allow them to replace him on the roster with a new player. As it currently stands, with Tucker just riding the bench during his reset period, Chicago is effectively playing one man down.

The Cubs just revealed tonight's lineup card, and Tucker is once again absent from it, meaning Counsell is sticking to his plan of giving his right fielder multiple days off to reset. It remains to be seen whether Tucker will be back in the lineup for Wednesday night's game or Thursday's series finale.