Cubs relievers meet the challenge on soggy Saturday
The Cubs bullpen has been impressive during the past couple of months. On Saturday the pen battled Mother Nature and came out ahead.
Starter Justin Steele pitched just two innings because of two rain delays, which meant the relievers would have to cover 7. Six relief pitchers combined to get the job done and the Cubs edged Toronto 3-2 at Wrigley Field.
One reliever who did not pitch was closer Hector Neris. Jorge Lopez worked the ninth inning to collect his first save with the Cubs. Lopez gave up a leadoff home run to Addison Barger, then struck out George Springer, Daulton Varsho and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to end the game.
Lopez made national news earlier this season for his bad ending with the Mets. He threw his glove into the stands after being removed from the mound and was released soon after. Since joining the Cubs, he's posted a 0.83 ERA. The ninth-inning homer was the second run he's allowed in 21⅔ innings.
“Baseball has so many up and downs,” Lopez said. “You struggle, but you've got to find a way to get back. The game will be good to you if you're still here, if you're good enough.”
Lopez, 31, has been around a while, pitching for seven teams during nine major-league seasons. He described the Cubs relievers as “best friends.”
Neris threw 33 pitches on Friday and squandered a 3-run lead in the ninth. It was his first blown save since June 17, and manager Craig Counsell said the decision was to go with a fresher arm.
“He wanted to pitch, that's Hector,” Counsell said. “He wants the ball, he doesn't want days off. But that was 33 pitches, I believe. And Lopey's obviously been throwing the ball well.”
The other bullpen star was rookie Porter Hodge. He came on in the seventh when Drew Smyly got in a jam, finished that inning with just one run crossing the plate, then added a scoreless eighth.
“His stuff has been so good,” Counsell said of Hodge, the former 13th-round draft pick. “He's a talented kid, and he's doing it with really good pitches. That's what you do with talented young players, you give them shots to get that experience.”
Like Hodge, Steele was drafted by the Cubs out of high school, so he can relate to the path traveled.
“He has a really good pitch package, mixes well, good off-speed,” Steele said. “To see him going on this run is not surprising. He's got electric stuff.”
The first rain delay happened while Steele was on the mound in the top of the second inning. He came back to finish the second, then it started raining again not long after. The two delays totaled 55 minutes.
Even though it put the bullpen in a bind, Counsell thought pulling Steele was the obvious call.
“We're also looking at Justin's health and just didn't think putting him back out there after two delays was good, both now and the rest of the season,” Counsell said. “That's essentially the decision and very comfortable with it.”
Steele didn't try to talk his manager into letting him go back on the mound, but did mention he felt good.
“It was just kind of being precautionary, hopefully going forward, go on four days rest or something, just so I can get the starts and innings and whatnot,” Steele said. “It was just one of them weird things where the weather was dictating what was happening.”
The Cubs (61-63) got a leadoff home run from Ian Happ in the first inning, then went ahead 3-0 on a 2-run triple by Michael Busch in the fifth.
They'll try to finish off the sweep with Shota Imanaga taking the mound Sunday and a bullpen that might need reinforcements.