Cubs hope pitcher Ben Brown’s upswing will continue
Friday's game was set up to be a nice showcase for Detroit ace Tarik Skubal, a contender to win his second straight AL Cy Young Award.
And it was, but Ben Brown stood his ground really well for the Cubs. Skubal's four-seam averaged 97.5 mph, Brown was at 96.8. Skubal struck out 6, Brown whiffed 7.
Brown threw a 98.8 mph fastball in the second inning, the highest velocity of his big-league career.
“Ben can go toe-to-toe stuff-wise with anybody,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Saturday. “I think he showed that last night. That was Ben's best fastball of the year.”
“I kept looking at first-pitch strikes. I don't know if they put that up (on the scoreboard) for Skubal, because he's so good at it. Ben was keeping up with him last night, and that's a key to his success. The last two stars for Ben have been really important for us.”
Brown was coming off his best performance of the season, tossing 6 shutout innings against the Reds with just 1 hit allowed. He had a similar progression last year as a rookie. In a two-game stretch in late May, Brown threw 11 shutout innings, with just 1 hit and 16 strikeouts.
After two more starts, which didn't go great, Brown was lost for the season with a neck injury.
“I think I'm just getting closer to where I was last year,” Brown said after Friday's game. “I feel good. Kudos to the trainers and the coaches here that are kind of keeping me in good shape.”
According to Pete Crow-Armstrong, there were already Brown believers in the clubhouse.
“We've all been there to remind him or just let him know that he has some of the best stuff in baseball,” Crow-Armstrong said.
More Skubal:
Maybe it was a halfway decent sign that Cubs batters collected 8 hits against Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, a season high for him — even though they managed to score just 1 run.
“Skubal is unique in this way, it's probably what I learned last night — he truly challenges hitters,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “So we got a number of pitches in the middle of the strike zone. We swung at the right pitches, no questions.
“But his stuff is overwhelming enough where you just don't square it up enough to get things going necessarily. But I thought we swung at the right pitches last night. That really is your job.”
Injury updates:
The Cubs said Shota Imanaga (hamstring strain) would throw a bullpen session Saturday in Arizona, then take the mound for game action in the Arizona Rookie League on Monday. … Reliever Porter Hodge (hip, oblique) threw a bullpen in Detroit before Saturday's game.