The Cubs’ freefall continued Wednesday night as the team sank to a season-low 9 games below .500.

After dropping the first 2 games to the Phillies at Wrigley Field, the Cubs have now lost 13 of their last 15 series dating back to mid-May.

They stand at 39-48 on the season and remain in last place in the NL Central by a decent margin (2.5 games behind the 4th-place Reds).

As for how the Cubs got here, you can point to innings like the 8th Wednesday night at Wrigley Field.

It started with a looping line drive off the bat of Trea Turner into center field, where Cubs rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong was narrowly unable to make a diving catch.

Turner’s ball had a .610 expected batting average so it was not an easy play by any means. Most center fielders in baseball don’t even get their glove on that ball.

But Crow-Armstrong is up here in the big leagues in large part for his elite glove and he was kicking himself after the game over that play.

“I didn’t make the play,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I think that’s the second or third time I haven’t made that play. So something’s gotta change there.”

[WATCH: Crow-Armstrong reacts to crucial 8th inning in Cubs loss]

Alec Bohm followed with a single and just like that, the Phillies had the first 2 runners on in the midst of a tense 3-3 ballgame.

After a popout, Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya failed to corral a pitch from Tyson Miller and the passed ball allowed both runners to move up a base with only 1 out.

“The ball that got away from Miggy, it’s certainly a ball we gotta catch and that changes the inning, for sure,” Craig Counsell said after the game.

The following batter, Edmundo Sosa, lifted a fly ball into center and Crow-Armstrong was unable to throw out Turner at home, allowing the go-ahead run to score.

Another single gave the Phillies an insurance run and the Cubs could not mount a rally in their final 2 offensive innings, heading home with a 5-3 loss.

[READ: Cody Bellinger’s place in the Cubs’ offensive struggles]

“Look, it’s our job to make breaks,” Counsell said. “And we’re not doing that enough. You got to make plays to win games and that’s part of winning. In the 8th inning, we couldn’t make a play.”

It’s a simple summation of an inning that turned into a back-breaker frame for the Cubs. And often lately, they have played games that feature an inning along those lines.

On Sunday, all 7 of the Brewers’ runs came in one inning that featured a missed flyball from Ian Happ.

Last Friday in Milwaukee, all 4 of the Brewers’ runs came on one swing of the bat during an inning that featured a catcher’s interference from Amaya.

Couple those sort of breakdowns with an offense that is struggling to score runs consistently and a banged-up bullpen and that’s how the Cubs end up with a record 9 games under .500.

To get back into the thick of the playoff race, the Cubs will need to start making their own breaks and executing on the types of plays that came back to haunt them in the 8th inning Wednesday night.

The Cubs will ring in the Independence Day holiday Thursday afternoon at Wrigley by looking to avoid a sweep in the series finale with the Phillies.