The Chicago Cubs have struggled with their offense all season long but their rotation has been one of the most consistent ones in the NL. If the arms are accurate, the Cubs have chances to win and that’s exactly what happened today against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Edwin Jackson dominated, the bullpen picked up the slack and the offense got off to an early lead as Chicago shutout Milwaukee 3-0 at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs’ bats jumped all over starter Matt Garza – who made his first appearance at Wrigley in another uniform – and they scored all three runs in the first inning. Emilio Bonifacio kicked things off with a bunt single and moved all the way to third on consecutive outs from Chris Coghlan and Anthony Rizzo. Starlin Castro brought Bonifacio home and the Cubs got off to an early 1-0 lead.
The action continued in the first inning after Nate Schierholtz walked. With runners on first and second, Welington Castillo had a two-run RBI double that gave Chicago a 3-0 lead. That would be all the offense of today’s game but the real story was Edwin Jackson’s spectacular performance.
Jackson pitched seven full innings and delivered his best outing ever since joining the Cubs last year on a four-year, $52M deal. Jackson looked unhittable and only allowed four hits and walked one. Jackson’s fastball had plenty of movement and his slider looked sharp on route to a season-high 11 strikeouts for the veteran.
Neil Ramirez and Hector Rondon were equally – if not more – dominant than Jackson today. Neil Ramirez pitched a perfect inning and Rondon only needed eight pitches to notch his fourth save of the season.
The Cubs’ arms combined for a four-hit shutout against the top offense in the NL. Despite the fact that the record hasn’t been as good as expected, there’s no secret that the Cubs’ rotation has been very good. Today’s start was another good example of that and if they can ride the momentum, the Cubs could start to turn the corner as soon as this year.