Cubs Postgame Wrap: Lester Pitches Nice Outing, Tough Ninth Inning, Cubs 4, Brewers 5

Jon Lester may not have had his best stuff today but he did what great pitchers do, he hung in there and got the job done. He pitched five innings giving up 2 hits, no runs, one walk and two strikeouts. He allowed some base runners but really did a nice job working his way around the Brewers lineup today. You can check out the box score here.

The bullpen also managed to do a very nice job, overall. We can all rest easy now that Strop and Rondon have had a couple nice outings in a row. Over their last two outing they’ve combined to pitch four innings, no hits, and four strikeouts. All is good there and I feel they’re ready to go for the season opener in ten days!

The Cubs got back-to-back doubles from Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo in the bottom of the sixth inning, with Bryant driving in La Stella, and Rizzo bringing in Szczur (good to see him back in there) and Bryant to start the scoring for the Cubs. After Kelly Dugan homered in the bottom of the eighth for the Cubs, all was good with the Cubs ahead 4 to nothing . Time to start packing up the kids, right? Not so fast.

Clayton Richard came on in the ninth and gave up four singles, a double, and a walk which led to five runs for the Brewers. So, on a day where the pitching really was great, things didn’t quite work out for Richard in the ninth. But still, a very good day from the guys who will be in position to make a difference on the opening day roster.

The game was televised so I didn’t take a lot of video but I did shoot a few warm-up tosses from Rondon in the pen.

Cubs are at Sloan Park tomorrow as they take on the Giants with John Lackey taking the ball for the Cubs at 3:05 CDT.