Chicago Cubs may have paid a high price for home opener win

Almost everything went right for the Chicago Cubs in their home opener win. But it may have come at a steep price – the well-being of their veteran ace.

Baseball returned to Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs certainly seemed like they found a sense of motivation. After a 2-7 road trip to open the season, Joe Maddon‘s club needed to hit the reset button – and that’s exactly what they did.

The Chicago offense continued to do what it has done most of the year: score runs. They put up 10 runs again for the fifth time in the young season, en route to a 10-0 victory. The offense broke out in a huge way during the second inning in front of the raucous home crowd at Wrigley Field.

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In the bottom of the second inning after two quick outs by the Cubs, Daniel Descalso hit a ground ball to Pirates shortstop, Kevin Newman, who committed an error trying to throw it to first. Then with two men on and after intentionally walking Jason Heyward to get to Jon Lester, the flood gates officially opened.

Lester hit a ball into the left-center gap scoring the first run of the year at Wrigley Field. That was only the beginning of what would be a six-run second inning. The offense kept the line moving as  Zobrist, Rizzo and Baez all contributed run-scoring singles.

Lester, who scored on Ben Zobrist‘s single, slid feet first into home plate and came up with a look of discomfort on his face, yet he stayed in the game. He went back out to the mound for the third inning.

After giving up two singles, Maddon had seen enough. The skipper made his way out to the mound to remove a disgruntled Lester, who was not at all happy to leave the ballgame.

The pure jubilation of the previous half inning was quickly replaced by discomfort and anxiety as the 40,000-plus fans at Wrigley Field watched Lester give way to the bullpen that has been shaky, at best, over the first couple weeks of the year.

In Saturday’s finale against Milwaukee, the bullpen seemed to turn a corner as they allowed no runs.  On Monday, Brad Brach entered first, with two men on and nobody out. The right-hander turned in a masterful frame, keeping Pittsburgh off the board.

On the afternoon, Brach, Brandon Kintzler, Randy Rosario and Pedro Strop all turned in scoreless efforts in the game. This is a promising sign for Chicago Cubs fans that have seen the bullpen go off the rails more than once in the young season.

Kyle Schwarber continued his hot start as he homered for the third time this year. This time off of a left-handed pitcher, Steven Brault. It seems as if Maddon is getting the message: this guy needs to be in the lineup – even when left-handers start.

As for Lester, the Cubs reported he left the game with left hamstring tightness. His status for his next outing, but, to no one’s surprise, the left-hander has no intentions of skipping his turn in the rotation.

"“In my mind, I’m making my next start,” Lester told MLB.com after the game. “Tomorrow may tell us something different and then we’ll re-evaluate, but I don’t think it’s as bad. Everybody on the training side always kind of thinks the worst-case scenario. I don’t. I don’t feel that way.”"

The Cubs enjoy an off-day Tuesday before taking on the Pirates in the second game of the series as Yu Darvish takes the mound for his third start of the year opposite right-hander Jordan Lyles.