Cubs Lester, Rockies Freeland put on pitching clinic
The Cubs' bullpen was beat up, worn down and widely ineffective heading into Tuesday night's NL wild-card game against the Colorado Rockies at Wrigley Field.
In Monday's loss to the Brewers in the NL Central tiebreaker, Cubs starter Jose Quintana exited after 5 innings with the game tied at 1-1.
Milwaukee scored 2 runs off relief pitcher Justin Wilson in the eighth inning and that decided the outcome.
"Everybody thinks we struggled because our bullpen is down," shortstop Javier Baez said. "But like I said (Monday), we only had three hits the whole game. If we hit and score runs, our pitcher doesn't have to worry about throwing more strikes or whatever, or the bullpen doesn't have to come and be with pressure, I don't think."
Hitting and scoring runs is always harder to do in the bright lights of October, and the Cubs struggled again in both areas Tuesday.
Baez finally came through, and his RBI double with two outs in the eighth inning scored pinch-runner Terrance Gore to pull the Cubs into a 1-1 tie with the Rockies.
But the Rockies won 2-1 on a Tony Wolters tiebreaking single with two outs in the 13th inning.
Starter Jon Lester kept the Cubs in the game, allowing 1 run on 4 hits over 6 innings while matching a season high with 9 strikeouts.
The veteran left-hander got into early trouble, walking Charlie Blackmon to lead off the game. Blackmon moved to third base on DJ LeMahieu's ground-rule double and scored on Nolan Arenado's sacrifice fly.
Lester buckled down over the next 5 innings, holding the Rockies to 3 hits.
"He's pitched a lot of big games, and he's one of the better pitchers in our game," said Arenado, Colorado's star third baseman.
"I have a lot of respect for him. I've been around him a couple times at the All-Star Game and I've seen his work ethic, so I have a lot of respect for how he goes about his business."
Lester was good, but Rockies counterpart Kyle Freeland was a touch better.
Pitching on three days' rest for the first time in 62 major-league starts, the 25-year-old lefty showed no fatigue while shutting the Cubs down for 6⅔ innings.
"The kid Freeland, I've been a fan," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "This kid has been good for a bit. He's got good stuff. He's a great competitor."
Freeland was pulled with a runner on first and two outs in the seventh inning, and that's when the Cubs' offense tried coming to life.
Adam Ottavino relieved Freeland and immediately threw a wild pitch, advancing Albert Almora to second base.
Willson Contreras followed with a walk and tried firing up the crowd, which did erupt when pinch-hitter Tommy LaStella reached on a catcher's interference to load the bases.
Maddon called on Jason Heyward to pinch hit, but he struck out swinging on Ottavino's 97-mph fastball on the outside corner.