Chicago Cubs Jon Lester pitches out of trouble for the victory

Chicago Cubs Jon Lester wasn’t masterful, but he did his part in the 6-1 win. He pitched out of trouble in the first and fourth on the way to earning his 12th win of the season.

The wind was blowing out to dead center field at Wrigley Field for the Chicago Cubs. What did that mean? The Cubs would allow a run–on a technicality–en route to a 6-1 victory. The Cubs took advantage of the wind hitting three home runs, one each from Willson Contreras, Nicholas Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber. Contreras was in his first game back from the IL, so welcome back, Willy.

For Jon Lester, he had to work for his outing. Lester walked four and struck out nine, but was at 110 pitches at the end of the sixth inning. But he dodged three bases-loaded chances for the Seattle Mariners giving up no runs on only six hits.

The only run given up shouldn’t have counted, but Joe Maddon was unclear about how to challenge the play. And I think for the armchair managers at home, they had their doubts, too.

Dan Vogelbach singled, allowing Dee Gordon to motor home from second base…sort of. Braden Bishop overran second, and Schwarber threw behind him. He was deemed out after replay, and the run likely would not have counted. But Maddon didn’t challenge the call, because he didn’t know he was supposed to.

The whole goal is to get it right, although it wasn’t. Maddon took the blame for it, saying he didn’t know he was supposed to challenge it right away. I don’t hold Maddon accountable, though. Replay rules should be explained in detail. In the end, it didn’t hurt the Cubs,

But let’s look at the offense. Schwarber was 3-for-3 with a walk, single, double and home run. Castellanos hit a three-run shot to right field to give the Chicago Cubs some breathing room. And Contreras homered in his first game off of the IL and added a single to it.

Steve Cishek, Brandon Kintzler, Kyle Ryan and Rowan Wick covered the last three innings in support of Lester’s 12th win of the year.

The Cubs have an off-day today before taking on the Milwaukee Brewers for a crucial four-game set. The Cubs will throw Jose Quintana (12-8, 3.90) against Chase Anderson (6-4, 4.58) for the Crew.