MILLS KEEPS ROTATION ROLLING
Mills continues Cubs starters’ run of strong efforts
CINCINNATI — The starting rotation was the Cubs’ second-biggest question mark — behind the bullpen — coming into the season. After five games, it has been their biggest strength.
Kyle Hendricks’ complete-game shutout on Opening Day seems to have been the launching point, as each pitcher has followed the previous starter’s lead.
It was right-hander Alec Mills’ turn Monday, and he continued to follow the trajectory in the Cubs’ 8-5 victory against the Reds.
‘‘All of us put in the work to be good,’’ Mills said. ‘‘Seeing success is always a good thing. I think it’s something where we just go out there and do our job and pass it to the next guy. That’s the point of the rotation, and I think we’ll do that moving forward.’’
Mills made quick work of the Reds’ lineup in his six innings of two-hit ball. He kept his sinker down in the zone and got 10 outs on grounders.
Mills’ season debut was a welcome sight for manager David Ross after the Cubs needed seven relievers to lock down their 8-7 victory Monday.
‘‘That’s a bullpen-saver right there,’’ Ross said. ‘‘He pitched his tail off. That’s a nice outing, especially for a guy overcoming not getting to face other competition in a short camp. Just a few live [batting practices] and sim games. Really big performance there. Even as the environment changes, he still just continues to execute pitches.’’
Mills, who won the fifth-starter spot after the thumb injury to left-hander Jose Quintana, said he thinks he has what it takes to stay in the rotation in the long term.
‘‘In my heart, I’ve always felt like I belonged,’’ he said. ‘‘It was just a matter of them giving me the job and me earning it. What happened with [Quintana] was unfortunate, but I just want to take this and run with it and make them make the tough decision.’’
The Cubs chose not to take a one-size-fits-all approach to their starters during summer camp and allowed Hendricks, Yu Darvish, Tyler Chatwood, Jon Lester and Mills to have their own plan.
‘‘You don’t know what’s going to happen in that downtime,’’ Ross said. ‘‘We were excited going into the season with how our starters were looking, but that downtime is tough. Everybody’s come back from that differently. That starting staff looks really good the first time through. It’s a really nice thing to watch.’’
Even with Hendricks and Darvish ahead of the rest from the start of camp, the Cubs’ decision to individualize how they handled their starters has paid off in a big way.
‘‘I think you can always look back and question or second-guess yourself either way,’’ Lester said. ‘‘I could have been ready to go at 100 pitches and kind of put myself behind the eight-ball, or I could have maybe had one more, two more pretty good bullpens to get from the 75 pitches I was at to the 95 mark. We’ll see here in another month and a half. You know, this works for me.’’
The Cubs’ rotation is 4-1 with 1.80 ERA, 26 strikeouts and five walks through five games. Cubs starters also have allowed only 14 hits in their first five games, their fewest since 1901.
‘‘I think what we’re doing right now is working,’’ Ross said. ‘‘The pitchers are going to continue to get better. They’ll get sharper as we go, and these guys have done a great job of staying in the approach of everything we’ve talked about.’’