Lester falls short in bid for 20 wins
CINCINNATI — Jon Lester paused just a moment Saturday to reflect on not being able to become a 20-game winner this season.
“We're all human, obviously,” Lester said a few minutes after he and the Cubs fell 7-4 to the Cincinnati Reds at the Great American Ball Park. “I think anytime you come into a situation like that, it's on your mind, especially the last start of the season. I don't think that had any bearing on what happened. Definitely, you get asked about it all the time. It's hard not to think about it.”
Lester simply didn't have his best command as he threw 111 pitches in 5 innings, giving up 6 hits and 5 runs. His final regular-season record is 19-5. His ERA ended at 2.44 after beginning the day at 2.28.
The 32-year-old lefty was the Cubs' prize free-agent catch before the 2015 season, when he went 11-12 with a 3.34 ERA. This year, he pitched like the staff ace the Cubs hoped he would be when they signed him to a six-year deal.
He expressed special pride in surpassing the 200-innings pitched mark for the fifth straight season.
“Two hundred innings, that's big,” he said. “I don't miss a start again, and that's what I pride myself on, that I make sure I take the ball every five days for these guys. That's something I've tried to do for a long time. At the end of the day, I try to say that all the other stuff will take care of itself. But this one was pretty special on a personal level, just where everything is at and finished and will probably go down as one of the better, if not best, years of my career.
“Hopefully there's a couple more to come, but a lot of personal satisfaction there. Try to look at that, but now we've got the real business to get down to.”
The “real business” begins next Friday, when the Cubs open postseason play by hosting Game 1 of the National League division series at Wrigley Field against the wild-card winner.
Saturday's Cubs lineup was one manager Joe Maddon could well trot out on Friday.
“There's a shot,” Maddon said.
How about Lester starting Game 1?
“There's a shot,” he repeated. “A shot and a beer.”
Most Cubs fans would probably drink to the idea of Lester starting a postgame opener.
For his part, Lester isn't taking that for granted.
“I don't know; I haven't been told anything,” he said. “I don't expect anything, especially in this game. You can't expect things to be given to you. Really, any of the five guys you run out there will be fine. We'll be fine. We'll be prepared. We'll be ready to go.”
In Saturday's game, the Reds scored a run in the first inning and 2 more in the second, on a 2-run homer by Eugenio Suarez. The pitch count mounted quickly for Lester, who gave up another run in the third before the Cubs battled back with 3 in the fourth, but that was it.
“Jonny's command was just not 100 percent,” Maddon said. “His stuff was good regarding velocity. But overall, just the execution of his pitches was just off a click, and you saw it. It just wasn't wanting to work today, but he's physically fine. He's not going to be perfect every time. Overall, just off.”