With one of the least productive offenses in baseball, inconsistent defensive play and a shaky bullpen, the Chicago Cubs have not had much success on the field this season. That said, the starting pitching has been very good throughout this young season, with Jason Hammel being one of the key contributors.
The Cubs signed Hammel to a one-year "prove it" costless-agent deal this offseason, and so far he has been fantastic. After five starts, Hammel is now 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA and a WHIP of only 0.69.
His best start took place this afternoon in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers, who have the best record in all of Major League Baseball at 18-7. Hammel pitched 7 strong shutout innings against the Brewers, while only giving up three hits, and walking two batters. He also struck out seven batters. The Brewers were without Ryan Braun and Jean Segura due to injury, but it was still a very impressive start by the Cubs' righty.
Hammel was on cruise control all afternoon, and he did not allow a hit until Carlos Gomez ripped a one-out double in the 6th inning. Hammel then walked the next batter, and both runners advanced on an errant pickoff throw. This is where Hammel faced adversity for the first time in the ballgame, as there were runners on 2nd and 3rd with only one out. He then struck out Jonathan Lucroy, and got Aramis Ramirez to ground out to end the inning unscathed.
Shortstop Starlin Castro got the Cubs' on the board in the top of the 2nd inning when he lashed a solo homerun to centerfied, which ended up being the only run that Hammel and the Cubs needed, but that would not be all they received. Nate Schierholtz scored later in the 2nd on a RBI groundout by Darwin Barney, Mike Olt plated Nate Schierholtz with a sacrafice fly in the 6th inning, and Castro gave the Cubs even more breathing room with another solo homerun in the 8th. This one was a line-drive that was just fair down the left field line.
Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon were perfect in the 8th and 9th innings respectively, shutting the door on the Brewers for the Cubs. Rondon struck out all three batters he faced in an impressive 9th inning performance. Rondon now has a miniscule 0.73 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in 11 relief appearances thus far. With all of their struggles in the back of the bullpen, Rondon seems to be considered the closer right now.
Hammel stopped the bleeding for the Cubs this afternoon as the team had lost their last four games. At 8-16, the Cubs do not look like a team that will win too may games this season, but Hammel is establishing himself as a legitimate middle of the rotation pitcher.