Plate patience pays big dividends for Cubs

Yogi Berra was right: In baseball, you don't know nuthin'.

All night Monday, Cubs batters went to the plate looking like they wanted to catch the final two periods of the Blackhawks game.

It was one first-pitch swing after another against St. Louis Cardinals lefty Jaime Garcia.

But down 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Cubs drew a couple of one-out walks against Jason Motte, including one on an epic 12-pitch plate appearance by Bryan LaHair, who fouled off 6 straight pitches. After Geovany Soto walked and Steve Clevenger's grounder to the right side moved the runners ahead, Joe Mather singled to center field on a 2-2 pitch to score the tying and winning runs and give the Cubs an improbable 3-2 victory at Wrigley Field.

“It's awesome,” said Mather, a utility man who got a start at third base. “We played a tough series against Cincinnati. You look at Bryan LaHair's and Geovany Soto's at-bats alone, that kind of speaks to how we've been working and how we've worked since spring training.”

Until late in the game, the Cubs weren't working counts much at all. Through four innings, for example, Garcia had thrown just 40 pitches while Cubs starter Matt Garza had thrown 77.

“We had some quick at-bats, but we hit some balls hard,” said Cubs manager Dale Sveum. “That's Garcia. He gives up a lot of groundballs. We hit some of them hard. Couldn't get a whole lot going, nobody on base or anything. Garza pitched a great game, again. Another start and got nothing to show for it.

“LaHair's at-bat was unbelievable, to battle that kind of velocity and then work a walk out of it. Geo, too, just a great at-bat, not going up there just hacking, and getting a good pitch. Obviously, Super Joe came through.”

Super Joe gave all the credit to LaHair.

“If Bryan doesn't have that at-bat, same with Geo, we don't get to that point,” Mather said.

Poor Garza has been the Cubs' tough-luck starter ever since he began pitching for them last year. Even though he ran the pitch count up early, he somehow made it through 7 innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs. He's 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA. Lefty James Russell relieved Garza in the eighth, and Rafael Dolis came on later in the inning to earn his first major-league victory.

The ever-excitable Garza was hardly lamenting his fate on this wacky night.

“Oh, man, I tell you what, that was one (heck) of a game,” he said. “Came up big at the end. That's awesome. It's exciting. It's one of those things where you're, ‘Come on, yeah.' I had a lot of fun.

“To me, my job is to go out there and take my team deep and as long as I can. Tonight, I didn't think I was getting out of the fifth. I had 45 pitches by the second.”

The victory raised the Cubs record to just 5-12, but Garza said it was important nevertheless.

“Down to the last out, we kept fighting,” he said. “It's just a little more growth for our young club. It's a key step forward for us.”

bmiles@dailyherald.com