Rozner: For a night, Chicago Cubs find the magic again

With a week left in the baseball season, amid a brutal stretch of baseball and a pennant race to boot, Joe Maddon did not pretend that Addison Russell wasn't a distraction.

With the Chicago Cubs getting pounded by the White South on the South Side Friday, the Cubs manager admitted it may have had an effect on his club in the opener of the series.

“It's hard to say that it didn't,” Maddon said Saturday afternoon. “You walk in the locker room and there's a different kind of buzz going on, outside of the actual game itself. We did have to meet as a group and talk about things.

“We also did get in at 6 o'clock in the morning the day before (from Arizona), so I just think yesterday was one of those days.

“I have a lot of faith in our guys. It really comes down to … you have trust in your guys or you don't. And I do.

“Yesterday was a tough day and I respect all of them. I think today we're gonna show up a little bit differently.”

Maddon was entirely right about that.

Jon Lester was tough for 5 innings despite a high pitch count and Javy Baez — El Mago — continued his MVP push with a first-inning, 2-run homer and 3 RBI, and the Cubs pounded out an 8-3 victory Saturday night on the South Side.

Once again it was up to Lester to get the Cubs back on track. Who else, right? As has been the case so many times over the last four years, the ball was in Lester's hand when the Cubs needed to make a statement.

With the Brewers playing well and the Cubs looking tired, it was up to Lester to handle an aggressive Sox lineup swinging with nothing to lose.

For Lester it marked his 30th start for 11 consecutive seasons, the only active pitcher with such a streak, and the first Cubs lefty since 1965 (Bob Buhl) to reach that number four straight years.

It wasn't exactly a masterpiece Saturday — 2 earned runs on 8 hits with 4 strikeouts on 102 pitches — but it was enough to get the Cubs to their bullpen with a 5-3 lead.

“I don't think Jon was at the top of his game,” Maddon said. “He battled through it. That's just who he is.”

Meanwhile, the Brewers were down early to the Pirates, Trevor Williams pitching a gem in Pittsburgh, something Maddon was keenly aware of while in the visiting dugout.

“I've been (scoreboard watching) since March,” Maddon said with a smile. “I always do that. You can't help it. Scoreboards are so informative. I look up there often.

“Not that it matters. There's nothing you can do about it. But you can't deny that you do.”

The Cubs' victory combined with the Brewers' defeat left the Cubs with a magic number of 6 with 8 games remaining, and the Cubs have a game in hand.

“Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves,” Lester cautioned, not wanting to think about clinching the division. “What are we, 2½ games ahead? Long ways to go. I don't ever want to jump too far ahead.

“If we had a bigger lead, I could comment on that. Two good teams chasing us. We just have to play good baseball.

“We get to go home for the last week of the season and enjoy that. Once we start having some champagne, then we can talk about that.”

With Cubs fans invading, the Sox sold out for the first time this year and a huge crowd of 39,724 was treated to at least two fights in the stands, at least those were the ones visible from the press box.

The fight on the field went to the Cubs, a much-needed game for the North Siders.

Lester's correct, that it's far from over. But for a night, the Cubs had a right to feel pretty good.