Cubs, Szczur slam door on Braves
Before the 2015 season, the Chicago Cubs signed Jon Lester to a six-year, $155 million contract because the left-hander was a premier starting pitcher.
Lester earned his money last year, setting a franchise records for most strikeouts in a season (207) by a lefty while going 11-12 with a 3.34 ERA and delivering 21 quality starts.
Taking the mound at chilly Wrigley Field Friday afternoon against the Atlanta Braves, Lester soon found himself trending on Twitter.
But his pitching prowess wasn't triggering all of the attention, even though Lester threw 7 strong innings in the Cubs' 6-1 win over the hapless Braves.
Lester's defensive shortcomings popped up once again, and an apparent mental block could have proved costly against a better opponent.
With the game tied at 1, Jeff Francoeur led off the seventh inning with a single and Tyler Flowers followed with a walk.
Atlanta's next hitter, Erick Aybar, bunted right back to Lester, as if by design, given the pitcher's reputation for freezing up in the field.
Lester fielded the bunt cleanly, turned toward first baseman Anthony Rizzo, and held the ball.
Afterward, Lester gave his version of the botched play.
“No matter what I say about the bunt in that inning, nobody's really going to believe what I say,” Lester said. “I never had a handle on it. I fielded it, the ball kind of rattled around in my glove, I reached for it twice, didn't have a handle on it, ate it.
“Believe me or not on that, but there was no point rushing a throw when I don't have a handle on the baseball.”
With the bases loaded and no outs after Aybar reached on a single, manager Joe Maddon came out for a mound visit.
“(Lester) just chose not throw it,” Maddon said. “He got confused. We have different things set up for that. It just happened. I just wanted him to understand, the way that batting order was set up after that, he was in good shape.
“I know the play can mess with your head a little bit, but you're still in good shape. I wanted him to know that.”
Maddon's message obviously registered. Lester struck out Drew Stubbs and pinch-hitter Jace Peterson before getting Nick Markakis to ground out to Rizzo and escape a potentially disastrous inning.
Lester allowed 1 run on 7 hits over 7 innings to go with 10 strikeouts.
“It was good,” he said. “Located when we needed to. I felt like I had a pretty good curveball today for a change. It's kind of avoided me through the season so far, so it's nice to throw a couple of those. Strikeouts are nice, but at the same time, go deeper in games. That's what's more important.”
The Cubs broke the game open with 5 runs in the eighth inning, the first one scoring on Rizzo's single and the final 4 on Matt Szczur's first career grand slam.
“I can't explain the feelings I have,” Szczur said. “I was super excited. I always tell you guys I want to contribute to the team and make an impact and it's great to do so in that manner.”