Lackey off his game, but Chicago Cubs rally for win
John Lackey has been one of the Chicago Cubs' stalwart starting pitchers since the all-star break.
He's also not the shy and retiring type, so don't expect him to get too down on himself after Tuesday night's rough outing, as the Cubs came back for a 13-9 victory at the Great American Ball Park. With the win, the Cubs moved to 10 games over .500 (67-57) for the first time this season.
The game took a strange turn in the ninth inning. Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant was hit with a pitch near the left wrist. He didn't come out of the game until the bottom of the inning.
Bryant was taken out as a precaution. Minus the NL MVP and ahead 13-6, manager Joe Maddon shifted Rizzo across the diamond from first base to make his first career appearance at third - a rare spot for a left-hander.
"Looking at it, the only thing left was (catcher Alex) Avila at third, which is no fun, or Rizzo at third and Avila at first, which is fun, and that's why we did it," Maddon said.
Rizzo didn't get any balls hit his way in his role as only the third left-handed third baseman in Cubs history. George Decker and Jimmy Ryan also played there in the 1800s.
Bryant's hand was fine - X-rays were negative, and he might miss a day. He wasn't aware that Rizzo had taken his spot in the ninth, and he knew he wouldn't hear the end of it from his lefty fill-in.
"He'll put that on his Twitter bio: Third baseman," Bryant said.
It was a season-long bugaboo that sent Lackey to an early exit Tuesday as the Cubs opened a three-game series. Lackey gave up 2 home runs as he lasted 5 innings.
The home runs were the 30th and 31st of the season given up by Lackey, putting him back into the lead in that dubious category in the National League.
Lackey gave up single runs in each of the first three innings, with Scooter Gennett connecting for his 22nd homer of the season in the third. The Cubs tied the game with 3 in the fifth, but a 3-run homer by Eugenio Suarez in the bottom of the inning put the Reds up 6-3.
The Cubs got Lackey off the hook for a loss with a 4-run seventh inning.
Until Tuesday, Lackey had made 6 starts since the all-star break, going 5-0 with a 3.06 ERA. His post-break ERA rose to 4.10. In the first half, Lackey was 5-9 with a 5.20 ERA.
Overall, Cubs starting pitchers have been getting it done since the break. Jake Arrieta is 5-1 with a 2.00 in the unofficial second half, and Kyle Hendricks has a 2.45 despite an 0-1 record and 5 no-decisions since he came off the disabled list.
Carlos Quintana has been up and down, going 4-2 with a 3.73 ERA since the break, when he was traded from the White Sox to the Cubs.
It will be important for the starters to keep this up as ace Jon Lester completes his time on the 10-day disabled list with shoulder fatigue.
Lester's replacement, Mike Montgomery, pitches Game 2 of the series Wednesday night. Montgomery has been a valuable swing man who is 2-3 with a 5.13 ERA as a starting pitcher and 1-3 with a 2.57 ERA as a reliever.
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