Cubs' Schwarber cooling his heels
LOS ANGELES - Kyle Schwarber was not in the Chicago Cubs' starting lineup for Friday night's series opener at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers threw left-hander Alex Wood at the Cubs, and on Sunday, they'll go with the ever-tough Clayton Kershaw. Schwarber's best bet to play is Saturday evening against right-hander Brandon McCarthy.
During the just-concluded homestand, Schwarber was 5-for-26 (.192) including a 4-strikeout day Thursday against the Giants.
"Today, I was not going to play him anyway," said manager Joe Maddon. "Would I have played him if he had been hot overall? May have. My concern when a guy's struggling a little bit, you don't want to get him too many at-bats. It's really hard to get yourself out of that actual numerical hole. So by not giving him as many at-bats, as he gets hot again, it's going to be easier to get back to the numbers that he's more comfortable with.
"I don't care about that. I'm looking at at-bats, process, what he's doing for the team in regards to on-base. But when the guy himself looks up at the scoreboard and he sees numbers everywhere and they evaluate themselves on numbers, and I don't want him to do that. I just want him to get back in the process of having good at-bats."
Another first for Montgomery:
The Cubs' postgame notes after Thursday's 5-1 victory stated that Mike Montgomery "notched his first career save in a game that did not clinch a World Series championship."
Montgomery pitched the final 4 innings Thursday in relief of Eddie Butler and earned his first career regular-season save. He earned the save in Game 7 of last year's World Series.
"A little different from 2 pitches in Game 7," he said Friday. "I'll take it. Both unconventional, different parts of the year. Yeah, I just telling them I felt good, and they kept running me back out there. Just keep getting outs."
Montgomery threw 41 pitches Thursday. That could help down the line as he gets stretched out for a possible future start.
"They haven't talked to me about it," he said. "I've told them, 'I'm ready if you want me to start.' I think they know I want to start. It's not a secret anymore, but in this role I'm in, I've got to be ready for anything, from coming in to get one out to starting."
The Cubs obtained Montgomery from Seattle late last July, and the trade turned out to be perhaps the biggest under-the-radar move of the season.
"Our guys felt that way," Joe Maddon said. "That was part of the trade. When we got him, our scouting staff was really excited … Big difference: He's got a real curveball, a real left-handed curveball, and he's got a real left-handed changeup."