Before leaving rain-soaked Wrigley Field, Chicago Cubs right-hander Marcus Stroman already knew what awaited him at home Wednesday night.

Dry work in front of a mirror. Anything that might help him get on track.

A frustrated Stroman struggled for a second consecutive start to find a rhythm on the mound, unable to get in sync mechanically. Stroman never got going on a cool, wet night against the Tampa Bay Rays, surrendering eight runs, including seven earned — both tying his career high — in 4⅓ innings. The Cubs lost 8-2 when the game was called after a 1-hour, 4-minute rain delay before the bottom of the sixth.

“Nothing seems synonymous. Every pitch essentially feels like I’m doing something different mechanically,” Stroman said. “It kind of comes and goes. In stretches I feel great for an inning or a few batters and then kind of just lose it.”

Stroman didn’t establish his sinker, leading to trouble. Too often the sinker ran arm side to the Rays’ left-handed hitters, which didn’t bode well against a Tampa Bay lineup featuring eight players hitting from the left side of the plate.

The Rays stayed patient and didn’t chase Stroman’s sinker away. Most of their damage came on pitches that caught too much of the middle of the plate. They built a quick lead in the first, scoring four runs with catcher Francisco Mejía’s two-out, two-run homer the big blow.

Stroman retired eight of the 11 batters he faced between the final outs of the second and fourth innings.

“I’m a realist: It’s two bad starts. That’s all it is,” Stroman said. “I’m not someone to dwell. I’m going to do everything I can to work on things and improve as I would do if I had a great start. I’m always adapting and changing.

“This is not half a bad season. This is two bad starts, and I’m going keep it at that and keep moving forward.”

Stroman’s four-seam fastball in particular worked better. He recorded four of his seven strikeouts with the fastball.

“It’s frustrating because I feel great for a few pitches or a batter and then I won’t know where it’s coming from where I’m off,” Stroman said. “Usually I’m pretty good at making in-game adjustments pitch to pitch, and it’s just been a struggle for me right now.”

Manager David Ross felt the Cubs defense didn’t help Stroman much, contributing to the poor start. The Cubs committed three errors, two on throws by catcher Yan Gomes and a throwing error from third baseman Jonathan Villar to open the three-run fifth.

Ross thought Stroman getting an opportunity to work through the issues was a positive development.

“A little bit more of a rhythm staying on his back side,” Ross said. “Usually that’s a sign of just getting a little bit ahead with your body and the arm not catching up all the way to get that final little bit of finish.

“But the direction seems OK and the way he’s working the stuff seemed to tick up a little bit as he was going. … Just got to find that consistency when he’s out there.”

The similarities to Stroman’s last start Friday night in Denver weren’t limited to an inability to find a rhythm on the mound. Stroman didn’t try to downplay his struggles Wednesday, just as he owned up to his rough night after his outing at Coors Field.

In that start, Stroman became derailed in the fourth inning, unable to get out of it with the Cubs’ lead intact. Afterward, Ross tried to give Stroman an out by attributing his struggles to the plate umpire calling time mid-delivery before a 1-2 pitch in the fourth. Coming off that sequence, the Colorado Rockies scored five two-out runs off Stroman in an eventual one-run loss for the Cubs.

However, Stroman wouldn’t blame the time call for disrupting his rhythm despite opening that game with three scoreless innings. He made clear he needed to be better then and going forward. Ross saw his comments after the Rockies game and appreciated how Stroman handled the moment.

“The fact that he’s accountable for his performance and understands it has to be better than it was,” Ross said before Wednesday’s game, “and he’s not going to make excuses whether it’s spring training or somebody calling time or the weather or whatever, the mounds not being right.

“We definitely run into people in life that want to make excuses or want to find a reason why it’s not their fault. The accountability thing is No. 1 on my radar. When you see players take accountability for the performance, good or bad, is super exciting to see.”

Stroman’s postgame analysis should play well again in the Cubs clubhouse. Accountability from one of the team’s highest-paid players can help set expectations of how struggles should be handled.

The Cubs, though, must hope Stroman’s assessment is accurate, that these are merely two blips over a potential 30-start season. Stroman is attacking the between-starts work, with Ross noting how good they collectively felt about his bullpen session coming into Wednesday’s start.

While that work didn’t carry over into Wednesday’s performance, Stroman doesn’t sound too worried, and neither should the Cubs at this point.

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