CUBS 10, PIRATES 4
Lester’s big bat — and strong arm — bashes the Pirates
Jon Lester delivered at the mound and at the plate, and the Cubs scored seven first-inning runs on the way to a rout.
The final 2½ months of the season will be a referendum of sorts for the Cubs, a chance to prove to team President Theo Epstein they should stay together a little longer.
The future of manager Joe Maddon and the guys who brought you that 2016 parade might depend on what happens the rest of way, making the stretch run an October-or-bust situation.
“For me, that’s not a good way to look at it from our perspective,” Maddon said Saturday before a 10-4 rout of the Pirates at Wrigley Field. “If you’re sitting in my seat or the players’ seat on a daily basis, that would be very unhealthy. … To create more gravity about a moment, I don’t think that necessarily ever works.”
But there will be no escape from the daily reading of the Cubs’ temperature, which started out ice cold in early April, sizzled through the start of June and dropped to lukewarm over the last month and a half.
Rebooting to start the second half is the Cubs’ main objective, and their effort Saturday was as good a way as any to hit the reset button.
Jon Lester went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs, and the Cubs jumped to a 7-0 lead in the first inning before 40,286 on a sweltering day at Wrigley Field. He wound up allowing three runs over 62⁄3 innings on a day when the ball was flying.
It is their first series win since sweeping the Cardinals on June 7-9 — when 90-plus wins seemed like a certainty.
“I think the break can always do us some good,” Lester said. “It was, what, 50 (games) out of 52 (days)? The break came at a good time for us. We know what’s ahead of us. We know the end of this month is going to be tough. We have to focus on the now. We can’t worry about where we are in the standings, or anything like that.
“Our guys have done a great job of that the last few days.”
Maddon said this is “the best version I’ve seen of Jon,” and the truth is the Cubs will need him to be at his best with Cole Hamels sidelined and Kyle Hendricks coming back to full health.
“I feel old,” Lester said. “Yeah, that’s high praise. I have to do a lot more navigating around some things. … Hopefully I can continue to ride that momentum as we go forward in the second half and pitch well down the stretch.”
Once one of the worst-hitting pitchers in the game, Lester started without a hit in his first 66 major-league at-bats until he singled off his buddy, John Lackey, in a Cubs-Cardinals game July 7, 2015. It was the longest hitless streak to start a majorleague career.
The offense showed up early Saturday, with Kyle Schwarber walking twice in the first and adding two hits. Jason Heyward added three hits, including a pair of doubles.
Lester had a one-hopper off the left-field wall for a two-run single in the first, then connected for his third-career home run off reliever Chris Stratton in the third. Lester is hitting .250 with 5 RBIs this season.
The Cubs looked like the Cubs again, though we won’t know for sure until they learn to win consistently on the road. Fortunately they have a nine-game homestand to get their act together.
The game already was all but decided in the bottom of the first after Willson Contreras’ threerun homer when Javier Baez took offense to a high and tight fastball on an 0-2 pitch from reliever Chris Stratton.
After venting in the direction of the Pirates dugout, Baez hit a run-scoring single up the middle to make it 7-0, then violently flung his bat toward their dugout as he ran to first.
The bat flew about 60 feet, landing near the end of the brick wall, only a camera well away from where manager Clint Hurdle was standing. Lester’s Shohei Ohtani impression stole the show, but Baez’s bat toss left a lingering impression.
The Cubs haven’t shied from speaking out about Pirates pitchers throwing up-and-in, including strong words from Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, not to mention Maddon’s Fourth of July eruption aimed at Hurdle when the teams played at PNC Park.
During the seven-run first Saturday, Bryant had to duck from a breaking ball starter Jordan Lyles delivered.
Baez’s message, however, was short, succinct and delivered without words.
Whether it was received is a question only the Pirates can answer. With 10 games remaining between the teams this year, there’s plenty of time to find out.