Major-league notebook: Cubs’ biggest hit has been Zobrist’s bunt single

CHICAGO— Momentum can be fickle and fleeting in the post-season, where a game, a series and ultimately a season can turn on one pitch, one hit, one play.

For the 2004 Boston Red Sox, it was Dave Roberts’stolen base that sparked a ninth-inning comeback against the New York Yankees in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.

The Red Sox became the first team to erase a 3-0 deficit and win a seven-game series, and went on to sweep St. Louis for their first World Series championship since 1918.

The 2016 Chicago Cubs, who are looking for their first championship since 1908 and first World Series berth since 1945, hope Ben Zobrist’s bunt single in the fourth inning of Game 4 of the National League Championship Series was a similar catalytic event.

The Cubs were shut out in Games 2 and 3 and hitless through three innings of Game 4 when Zobrist led off the fourth with a bunt off Dodgers left-hander Julio Urias.

That sparked a four-run rally that snapped a 21-inning scoreless streak and started a 15-inning stretch in which the Cubs busted out for 18 runs on 25 hits. After going 2-for-16 (.125) with runners in scoring position in the first three games, Chicago went 10-for-31 (.323) with runners in scoring position in Games 4 and 5. Where there’s a Willson, there’s a way: Cubs rookie catcher Willson Contreras had made significant, if not splashy, contributions heading into Game 6, hitting .412 (7-for-17) with three RBIs in nine playoff games, including an RBI single in Game 4 and a pinch-hit single in a five-run eighth inning in Game 5.

“He’s working good at-bats,” Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said. “He’s

doing the proverbial taking-whatthe-pitcher-gives-him and using the whole field. And you’ve got to love the energy he plays with . . . he’s passionate about everything he does. He’s passionate about his morning coffee.”

Spelling relief s-l-o-w-l-y: While Dodgers reliever Pedro Baez’s pace, or lack thereof, between pitches has been known and maligned for years in Los Angeles, his extensive workload this post-season has carried the issue onto a national stage with a spotlight shining.

Baez averaged 30.2 seconds from receiving the ball to delivering it this season, according to fangraphs.com. For his career, he’s at 29.9 seconds. Only two men in the 10-season history of PITCHf/x data have taken longer.

“You know, Pedro’s very methodical,” Roberts said. “But we’ve talked about the pace of play and trying to

kind of speed that up. Our guys make no excuse about how fast or slow a guy works.”

Bullish on batting: The Detroit Tigers have hired Lloyd McClendon as hitting coach and Leon Durham as assistant hitting coach.

McClendon is returning for his second stint with the Tigers after serving as bullpen coach in 2006 and hitting coach in 2007-13 before managing the Seattle Mariners for two seasons.

He managed the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate in Toledo this season, guiding the team to a 68-76 record. He also managed the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2001-05.

Durham has been a minor-league coach for the Tigers for 16 years.

McClendon, a Gary, Ind., native, played 16 seasons with the Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Cubs and Pirates.

Durham played 10 seasons with St. Louis, the Cubs and the Reds.