Lee homers, Cubs win again since banning Bradley
MILWAUKEE - The way Cubs manager Lou Piniella sees it, Randy Wells has one more start left this season.
The way Randy Wells sees it, maybe not.
"That's it? That's news to me," said Wells, who improved to 11-9 Tuesday night with a 7-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. "I want to get as many as I can, just to show them I can handle the workload and head into next year with the confidence that I can handle the load.
"We can talk about it. Maybe I can talk him into it."
Wells, a leading candidate for Rookie of the Year honors, worked 6 innings of 1-run ball as lowered his ERA to 3.00.
It also was a nice bounce-back start after a pair of rough outings.
"I said last time in the press conference that I'd fix it, and we got to the bottom of it," Wells said. "I don't know what you'd call it. We'll chalk it up to a lazy arm, just trying to guide pitches in the zone. If your sinker's moving too much, you won't catch any of the plate, or when you do catch the plate, it just kind of sits over there, and guys hit it.
"I sped up the arm a little bit and tried driving balls into the zone."
Wells has pitched a career-high 153 innings, and Piniella and pitching coach Larry Rothschild limited him to 89 pitches against the Brewers.
"We shortened him up as much as we could," Piniella said. "We're going to give him one more start. Our thinking is one of the doubleheader games against the Pirates (next Wednesday).
"We talked to him the last time out against this team right here, where we used the word 'nibbled.' And today, he went right after the hitters and back to the style of pitching that we were accustomed to seeing."
For the second straight night, Cubs bats hit the Brewers early, with 3 in the first against Dave Bush, whom they chased in the second, when they also scored 3.
Derrek Lee had an RBI single in the first, and Aramis Ramirez drove in 2 with a single. Lee hit a solo homer to right field in the fourth, raising his RBI total to a career-best 109.
"How about Derrek Lee?" Piniella said, without prompting. "How about Derrek Lee? Gosh, what is it, 35 (homers)? Driving it to all fields."
Rookie Tyler Colvin walked and had a single. On defense, he robbed Ryan Braun with a leaping catch in center in the ninth. He also made a nice running catch to end the game.
"That was fun watching that youngster roam out there," said Piniella, whose team won its third straight. "That outfield that we had out there in the eighth and ninth innings of (Kosuke) Fukudome, Colvin and (Sam) Fuld, it doesn't get much better than that with the glove, does it?"
<p class="factboxheadblack">Bruce Miles' game tracker</p> <p class="News">Cubs 7, Brewers 2</p> <p class="News"><b>Return to quality:</b> Randy Wells turned in his first quality start since Sept. 6. He worked 6 innings, giving up 7 hits and 1 run, a homer to Prince Fielder. Cubs pitchers have an ERA of 2.03 in their quality starts this year with a record of 57-33.</p> <p class="News"><b>Rookie watch:</b> Center fielder Tyler Colvin went 1-for-3 with a walk in his second major-league game. He also robbed Ryan Braun of a homer with a leaping catch in the ninth inning. Colvin may get tonight off against lefty Chris Narveson.</p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=323465">Bradley will be dealt with quietly<span class="date"> [9/22/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>