The last time a Chicago Cubs pitcher struck out 13 batters was nearly four years ago

According to a Tweet from Codify baseball, the last time a Chicago Cubs starter struck out 13 batters in a game was nearly four years ago.

The game in question was a contest on September 17th at Wrigley Field against the Cincinnati Reds, where former Cub starter Yu Darvish took the mound.

The hard-throwing right-hander went seven innings that day where he surrendered 6 hits and four earned runs in addition to setting down 13 Reds via strikeout. This was one of six starts by Darvish where he reached double digits in the strikeout category that year.

Since Darvish was traded to the San Diego Padres in December of 2020, the Cubs have not had a high velocity power pitcher on their starting rotation.

Justin Steele, Marcus Stroman, and Kyle Hendricks do well as soft-tossers when there is a good defense surrounding them, but it wouldn't hurt if the Cubs had an upper 90s high strikeout guy.

Top prospect Ben Brown is the closest thing the Cubs have to that type of starting pitcher, but his path to the big leagues could see him transition to the bullpen. Cade Horton is another candidate and his bread and butter is the strikeout, but he is likely still a couple of years away from Wrigley.

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