Wells, like Cubs, trying to finish strong
It's almost as if somebody has flipped a switch with these Cubs.
The light has certainly gone on for pitcher Randy Wells, who turned in his second straight dominant performance as the Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants 2-0 Wednesday night at Wrigley Field.
On the heels of working 8 innings of 1-run ball against the Cardinals last week, Wells followed that with 72/3 innings of 6-hit ball as he improved to 8-13 with a 4.28 ERA.
It's too little, too late, but the Cubs are trying to make something out of the final two weeks of a lost season.
"We're playing some good ball right now," Wells said. "Everybody's loose. Everybody's having fun. You wish it wasn't too little, too late, but try to build for next year and see what we've got, and everybody's responded well."
The Cubs helped to knock the St. Louis Cardinals out of the NL Central race. The Giants entered Wednesday leading the West by one-half game.
"You've got to have something to play for," Wells said. "The spoiler role, or whatever you call it, is a big motivation for us. Every game's big for us. We're trying to win games, and we're trying to show that we can play baseball and win games consistently."
Wells threw only 91 pitches, and manager Mike Quade brought closer Carlos Marmol into the game in the eighth after Wells walked Travis Ishikawa and gave up a double to Cody Ross.
Marmol struck out Freddy Sanchez and then struck out the side in the ninth (with 1 walk) for his 34th save.
"He was real good," Quade said of Wells. "You don't want to make too much of it, but with these games being low scoring, it's not like flipping 72/3 scoreless when you've got 4 or 5 (runs) to work with.
"It's really good stuff. He pitched really well on a night when every hitter, every situation, every baserunner was going to matter.
"I can't stand, and there are exceptions, but I can't stand to have somebody lose a ballgame after 7 innings that he's pitched real well. That's not chopped liver (Marmol) we've got coming in to pick him up."
The Cubs got their first run in the third, when Kosuke Fukudome led off with his 13th homer. In the fifth, catcher Koyie Hill led off with a double. He scored on one play as the Giants' Jonathan Sanchez uncorked a wild pitch and catcher Buster Poser made a throwing error trying to get Hill at third.
"What happened was I stole third, and I stole home," quipped Hill.
Like everybody else, Hill has noticed a difference under Quade, who is 18-8. Quade has told the Cubs, "everything we've got for the last 12" games.
"A lot of guys in here are finishing strong," Hill said. "It's fun to see, and it's fun to come to the ballpark.
"Yeah, it could be miserable. You could say, 'The season didn't go like we wanted it to,' but you know what, guys have shown a lost of class, a lot of heart, and it's been fun to come to the ballpark the last six weeks."
<p class="factboxheadblack">Bruce Miles' game tracker</p>
<p class="News">Cubs 2, Giants 0</p>
<p class="News"><b>Making it count:</b> Cubs starter Randy Wells threw 91 pitches, 64 strikes, in 72/3 innings. His pitches/strikes per inning went like this: 18/13; 10/7; 9/6; 10/8; 12/10; 11/8; 8/5 and 13/7.</p>
<p class="News"><b>First things first:</b> Wells recorded five outs on first pitches. "The sinker's come back to me a little bit; I made an adjustment," he said. "The changeup's been nice off that. I think those two pitches go hand in hand."</p>
<p class="News"><b>Striking:</b> Closer Carlos Marmol faced five batters, striking out four. For the season, he has 128 strikeouts in 722/3 innings.</p>
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