Chicago Cubs: Bullpen proving its mettle during recent winning streak

Game 1

Following a solid outing from starter John Lackey (seven innings, four hits, two earned runs, two walks and six strikeouts), manager Joe Maddon called upon the electric arm of Carl Edwards Jr. Despite having only walked eight batters in 20 innings prior to Friday’s game, Edwards would walk three Cardinals’ hitters.

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In total, Edwards threw only 23 pitches on Friday, with eight of those being strikes. As a result of his lack of command, Edwards was only able to record two outs before Maddon replaced him with Pedro Strop. Strop needed just five pitches to strike out Yadier Molina and end the inning.

With the Cubs holding the lead heading into the ninth, Maddon called upon closer Wade Davis to get the final three outs.

Before Davis’ appearance on Friday, he had not seen action since May 24. Nevertheless, Davis tossed just 11 pitches (six strikes) to record the save, his eleventh of the season.