More often than not, the ballads we know and love tell a sad tale. In the early goings, and even in the late goings of this particular Jon Lester start, the ballad seemed to be strong, joyous, and prideful before the closing verse quickly unraveled this great story. This proves furthermore the sentiment that is well believed throughout baseball: that pitcher wins and losses are about as sound a way to judge pitcher performance as Karen Smith’s method of predicting the weather. Lester pitched seven brilliant innings of two-hit ball and ended up with a no-decision in one of his best starts in the second half; what a shame.
Lester threw 105 pitches while facing 24 Cardinal batters, racking up seven strikeouts before being replaced by Pedro Strop, who promptly gave up two runs, tarnishing Lester’s picturesque afternoon in St. Louis.
But enough about the game as a whole, let’s just take a look at one piece of it—Lester’s brilliant outing. Lester was sharp, efficient, and able to hold this rival St. Louis team and their #CardinalsDevilMagic to just one run on two hits.
Here is a breakdown of the arsenal that Lester used to craft this exceptional start.
He used his typical fastball, cutter, curveball mix that he usually employs, with a dash of changeups and a sprinkling of sinkers for flavor.
Lester struck out opposing batters in seven plate appearances, but only struck out five batters—with Matt Carpenter and Randal Grichuk being double strikeout victims. This is quite interesting to me. First, because Carpenter has proven to be the most consistent (and healthy) bat for the Cardinals this summer. And second, because Grichuk was instructed to stand in centerfield and patrol even though he couldn’t throw at full capacity, and the Cardinals were willing to endure this because they wanted his bat in the lineup so badly. Grichuk’s contributions to the game? Well, he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and two “gift” runs on hits the Cubs dumped into centerfield. Not exactly the plan of action Mike Matheny had in mind for Grichuk, I’m sure.
So, let’s take a look at just how Lester struck out these two particular batters in each plate appearance.
The Ballad of Matt Carpenter
Situation: Second AB, third inning, four pitches (3 FA, 1 FC)
Lester starts him off here with a fastball away that he takes for ball one, then continues on in this sequence with a fastball in the zone that Carpenter fouls off for the first strike of the at-bat. Lester then gets nasty on him, throwing Carpenter an 88-mph low cutter that he swung at for strike two, and finishes him off with another fastball away that we could say was a generous called strike from home plate umpire Vic Carapazza. Adios, Carp.
Situation: Third AB, sixth inning, three pitches (FA, CH, CU)
This was by far my favorite sequence that Lester put anyone away with on Wednesday. If this was a ballad, the sharp intensity of it is akin in my mind to first few verses of Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now.” Called-strike fastball, then a swing-inducing, 86-mph changeup, followed by a very low curveball Carpenter swung at, which put him away in Lester’s final meeting of the series with the Cardinals slugger. Absolutely brutal and spine-tingling sequence for me.
The Ballad of Randal Grichuk
Situation: First AB, first inning, three pitches (2 FC, 1 FB)
Lester’s plan of attack was flawless in his first time facing Grichuk on the day. He hit him with a first pitch cutter in on his hands, which, according to his Brooks Baseball, is a pitch at which he frequently offers. On this particular occasion, it went for a swinging strike, the first of their matchup. Lester then comes at him with another inside fastball, which Grichuk fouls off. Strike two. Lester puts him away with another cutter, this time low and away for a called third strike. Another somewhat generous call—but who’s complaining? Maybe Grichuk. Go on now go walk out the door, just turn around now, ’cause you’re not welcome anymore! Until next time.
Situation: Second AB, fourth inning, four pitches (FB, CH, 2 CU)
This time around, Lester changed his tune for Grichuk. This at-bat had more of an “The Wreck of the Edmunds Fitzgerald” feel. Lester puts Grichuk away with a decelerando of pitches, starting him off with a low fastball for a called strike one. He then hits him with changeup just outside the zone, a pitch Grichuk couldn’t resist swinging at, followed by a curveball that went for ball one. Knowing that Grichuk has a tendency to swing at low pitches, Lester then finished him off with a curveball that Grichuk foul tipped. Strike three. He said, “Fellas, it’s been good to know ya.” Farewell, Randal.
And that is the tale of how Lester garnered four of his seven strikeouts on two of the more prominent batters in Wednesday’s matchup.
Note that Lester’s percentage of strikes began to fall into the low and mid-50s during the fourth and fifth innings.
He then began to make adjustments, mixing in more of his offspeed and breaking pitches and laying off the fastballs just a tad.
Lester exited the game in the seventh, then turning over the responsibilities to defend the potential sweep to the bullpen. Unfortunately for Lester and the Cubs, a leaky pen ruptured and the lead was surrendered; however that still doesn’t change the fact that this was quite the solid outing for Lester. Something we hope to see more of as the Cubs head into the final weeks of the season and into October.
Lead photo courtesy of Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports