Chicago Cubs: Cole Hamels showing no signs of slowing down

Making a triumphant return from the IL, Chicago Cubs left-hander Cole Hamels showed that he’s ready to lead the staff in the season’s final two months.

After spending roughly five weeks, Chicago Cubs hurler Cole Hamels returned to the mound on Saturday and picked up right where he left off, twirling five scoreless innings in a win over Milwaukee.

The 35-year-old southpaw rejoined the team last offseason when the front office picked up his $20 million option for the 2019 season. After bolstering the staff down the stretch last season, pitching to a 2.36 ERA in a dozen starts, many – myself included – expected some sort of regression. Instead, Hamels has been just as good – if not better.

"“It’s a tough thing to actually have to have an injury like that before,” Hamels told MLB.com after the game. “You don’t want them to ever occur again. But I understood it wasn’t going to be as drastic and the time wasn’t going to take as long. But, like anything, you just want to be smart and you just want to build everything back up, because those types of injuries, you have to completely shut down everything."

Sure, on a normal day, Hamels probably keeps pitching past the fifth. After all, the lefty needed just 74 pitches to silence the Brewers’ bats. But with a 75-pitch limit, Joe Maddon went to the pen – and that group nailed down the win to put the Cubs up two games over Milwaukee and pull them even with the Cardinals in the division. After St. Louis lost Saturday night, Chicago regained sole poessession of first-place in the National League Central.