Cubs bullpen nearly squanders another stellar start
If winning baseball was based on starting pitching alone, the Cubs would be on a nice winning streak.
With Jameson Taillon making another stellar start Saturday, Cubs starters have posted a 0.99 ERA over the last six games.
The bullpen is another story. Handed a 5-0 lead after six innings, the relievers stressed out the fans before Hector Neris finally finished off a 6-5 victory over Milwaukee at a riled-up Wrigley Field.
The Brewers scored once in the ninth and had runners on first and second with one out before Neris ended it with a strikeout and groundball.
“He's been in every situation and the game never speeds up on him,” manager Craig Counsell said of Neris. “He's always kind of in control and thinking ahead. There was some traffic today but ultimately made some great pitches when he had to.”
The best bullpen performance was by Mark Leiter Jr. After Keegan Thompson was hit hard in the seventh, Leiter managed to finish that inning with a 5-4 lead, then retire Milwaukee in the eighth.
Another move that paid off was turning the DH job over to Patrick Wisdom. The Cubs tried Matt Mervis in that role but sent him back to Iowa before Saturday's game.
Wisdom smashed his first home run of the season in the sixth inning. Then in the eighth with the Cubs clinging to a 5-4 edge, Wisdom delivered a one-out RBI single to bring home Michael Busch with a vital insurance run. Busch led off the inning with a triple into the right-field corner.
Even better, Wisdom did things in that at-bat to show he's evolving as a hitter. He started 0-2, fouled off a couple of pitches, then sent a high fastball from Milwaukee's Bryan Hudson into center field. Wisdom has been a notorious low-strike specialist since he's been with the Cubs.
“I think it goes to the work you put in and just being able to shorten your swing up in those moments,” Wisdom said. “(It's an) electric fastball, he's got good extension on it, so it feels like he's releasing it halfway to home plate. It gets on you pretty quick. So just shortened up the swing and was able to put the bat on the ball.”
Counsell stated the obvious after the game, that it's now Wisdom's turn at DH to try to inject some life into the Cubs offense. They did get a leadoff home run by Nico Hoerner in the first inning, then Christopher Morel drilled his fourth homer of the week, a 2-run blast in the third.
There's work to be done in the bullpen, but with Taillon coming off the injured list to deliver four strong outings, the Cubs rotation has a chance to be among the best in MLB. There could be more improvement with Opening Day starter Justin Steele expected to return from a hamstring strain Monday.
“As I've gotten a little older, I feel like I've kind of reinvented myself with the pitch mix,” Taillon said. “It used to just be all fastball, curveball. Now it's backdoor cutters, there's a sweeper in there, just doing some different things.
“I feel like the strength of our rotation is we're just super deep. We've got six, seven really legit options, which is super-exciting.”
Maybe there will be enough good starters to rescue the Cubs bullpen.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports