Bullpen holding back Chicago

Slumping Cubs return to Wrigley, down 0-2 in NLCS.

LOS ANGELES — In the ninth inning of a tied playoff game that represented a must-win situation Sunday night, the Chicago Cubs turned to a 38-year-old career starting pitcher throwing for the second day in a row for the first time in his career.

You can pin the Cubs’ crushing 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on righthander John Lackey if you wish.

But this one falls on the Cubs front office as much as any player for giving manager Joe Maddon such limited options. Once again this postseason, the Cubs bullpen contributed to their demise when Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner smacked a three-run homer to center field to give his team a dramatic walk-off win and a 2-0 series lead.

Here we went again into the late innings of a Cubs playoff game, with the margin for error thin and the stakes higher than the mountains within view of Dodger Stadium. The Cubs and Dodgers took a 1-1 tie into the ninth, with every hitter a possible hero, every pitcher a potential goat and every one of the 54,479 fans on the edge of their seats. Then Turner stepped forward and turned on a Lackey fastball in a moment that could turn the series.

Lackey took the mound because closer Wade Davis was available for one inning only. The toll of Davis getting seven outs on 44 pitches Thursday in Game 5 of the NLDS clincher cost the Cubs their best shot at beating the Dodgers in a crucial game.

“Wade had limited pitches,” Maddon said. “We needed him to save the game.”

Davis never got a chance because the bullpen lacked an arm dependable enough to count on in his absence. That’s harder to accept than the Cubs trying to preserve Davis’ weary right arm. Using Carl Edwards Jr. in the fifth reduced the options in a bullpen that already had used Pedro Strop and Brian Duensing. Nobody would say Maddon was spoiled for choice.

Unlike Maddon, Roberts brought closer Kenley Jansen into a tie game to start the ninth, when baseball’s most dominant reliever killed hope against the heart of the Cubs batting order. Two games into the NLCS, that heart is barely beating. In two games, the Cubs have managed three runs and seven hits.

“We scored one run today,” Maddon said. “That’s the issue.”

What happened to the offense? The game-time temperature reached a sizzling 92 degrees, yet the Cubs hit like they stored their bats in a freezer, continuing a cold spell killing their playoff buzz. Kris Bryant has struck out 13 times in 28 postseason at-bats and finds himself mired in an extraordinary slump. Anthony Rizzo, hitless since his blooper won Game 3 of the NLDS, feels just as stymied.

Nobody besides Addison Russell, who homered, stepped forward with a big hit. Maddon tried to avoid calling Game 2 a must-win scenario beforehand, but returning to Wrigley Field having to beat the Dodgers in four of the next five poses a daunting task for a team struggling so mightily.

Joe Maddon has few reliable options to turn to in late innings.