Joe Maddon: Cubs Have No Plans To Bring Jon Lester Back For Game 4
(CBS) The Cubs plan to start right-hander Jason Hammel in Game 4 of the NLCS on Wednesday, manager Joe Maddon said Monday, emphasizing there's been no thought of bringing left-hander Jon Lester back on three days rest. The upside of pitching Lester in Game 4 on short rest would be that the Cubs could start him in a potential Game 7 on Sunday, again on short rest, though that'd be asking a lot from him.
"We're just going to play it straight as of right now," Maddon said. "We haven't thought about changing any of that. You have to win X number of games to get there and to push Jon to that point, I don't think we want to do that. We refrained from doing that in the previous round (in defeating the Cardinals in four games in the NLDS) and it played out pretty well. We're going to do it again.
"I mean again, we could always change our methods of thinking. But as of right now, we're not thinking that at all."
Chicago trails 2-0 in the series entering Game 3 on Tuesday, when right-hander Kyle Hendricks will square off against New York right-hander Jacob deGrom.
Hammel has made one postseason start, getting the early hook in Game 4 of the NLDS in which he took a no-decision in going three innings and allowing two runs, both earned. Maddon had a quick hook with Hammel (10-7, 3.95 ERA) for much of the second half. In the NLDS clincher, Maddon utilized seven relievers after pulling Hammel early, and that will certainly be a path he could take again.
The Mets will trot out rookie left-hander Steven Matz in Game 4.
As it sits now, Lester is slated to pitch Game 5 on Thursday, and Jake Arrieta would come back for Game 6 on Saturday, if necessary.