Montgomery, Chicago Cubs keep rolling along
The Chicago Cubs look well-positioned to win the National League Central for a second year in a row and make the playoffs for a third straight season.
Their talent, the schedule and the division all weigh in their favor.
But just as they've done all season long, they're piecing things together as they go. And they seem to be having a good time in doing so.
The good times continued to roll Wednesday night during a 9-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. It was the fifth straight win for the Cubs, who are 68-57.
Exhibit A in piecing things together was the left-hander Mike Montgomery made his first start since July 19 as fellow lefty Jon Lester recovers on the disabled list from left-shoulder fatigue.
Montgomery, one of the top under-the-radar pickups of 2016, has been an invaluable swing man for the Cubs since he came over in a trade with Seattle in July of last year.
Against the Reds on Wednesday, he worked 6 scoreless innings, giving up 4 hits as he improved to 4-6 with a 3.43 ERA. It helped that he was staked to a 9-0 lead by the fourth inning.
"Getting into that routine again, the warmup, the long-toss routine, you don't have that luxury as a reliever," pitching coach Chris Bosio said on his WSCR radio pregame show. "The guys in our bullpen have an opportunity to throw with our outfielders, which I encourage.
"That's why you see a bunch of different guys go out there and do that. But still it's not the same as a pregame starting routine. Mike's done it a number of different times for us."
Montgomery got home runs from teammates Kyle Schwarber and Tommy La Stella, playing third base in place of Kris Bryant, who was hit by a pitch in Tuesday night. Bryant suffered a bruised left hand.
That was no fun for Bryant or the Cubs, but manager Joe Maddon did have some fun in the aftermath, moving left-handed-throwing first baseman Anthony Rizzo to third base for the bottom of the ninth. Rizzo became the first left-handed third baseman for the Cubs since George Decker in 1895.
"Why not?" said Maddon, also on WSCR. "Once KB gets hit on the hand, we had nobody left. So I wanted to move it around. It could have been (catcher Alex) Avila at third. Like I said, that's no fun.
"With a 7-run lead, why would I do that? All these lefties coming up, why would I do that? I knew Riz would get into it. I knew it would perk the whole group up, like when you have (former catcher) David Ross come in and pitch. Little things to amuse our little minds. So I thought (Rizzo) at third base would pick us up."
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