DENVER -- Cubs manager Craig Counsell often describes navigating through baseball’s long schedule as solving an innings puzzle. One piece that was missing for most of this season was right-hander Javier Assad, who was a versatile and steady arm for Chicago’s staff the past few years.
In a 4-3 victory over the Rockies on Saturday night, Assad spun his second straight quality start in his fourth outing since returning from a left oblique issue that dated back to Spring Training. The righty’s solid performance in Coors Field’s intimidating environment was a key to helping the Cubs remain 6 1/2 games back of the National League Central-leading Brewers.
As September looms, Assad could play an important role down the stretch for the Cubs, who currently hold the NL’s top Wild Card spot.
“Look, we’re at the point where you’ve got to earn stuff,” Counsall said. “And you’ve got to put the guys out there that are earning it. And he’s certainly doing that.”
Here were three keys to Saturday’s win in Denver:
1. Assad grounds the Rockies
When Assad finds himself in a rhythm on the mound, his sinker has the kind of late, sharp movement that entices swings and creates weak contact. It was a pitch that was giving Colorado’s lineup fits on Saturday.
“I wish I could be up the middle watching it, to be honest,” Cubs first baseman Michael Busch said. “Because he’s good. He locates it and he throws the cutter off it, and it’s nasty.”
Assad featured his sinker 35 times in the win and generated 11 outs via ground balls. The pair of double plays induced by the righty within that -- one to end the fourth inning and another to erase a leadoff walk in the fifth -- came via his cutter. Overall, Assad held the Rockies to three runs in his six innings.
“Javi was excellent. He kept the ball on the ground,” Counsell said. “That’s how he was going to be successful tonight. … He had a really good fastball tonight, and a really good sinking fastball tonight. He made some good pitches.”
2. Palencia slams the door
The last time Cubs closer Daniel Palencia took the mound, the hard-throwing righty gave up three hits, including a walk-off single to Jung Hoo Lee in San Francisco.
Palencia’s task has been to turn the page and keep learning in his first year as the Cubs’ ninth-inning stopper.
“It’s the job of a closer,” Counsell said. “You have to always have a short memory. A short memory outing to outing. A short memory during your outings. And Daniel came out and had a great inning.”
After setup man Andrew Kittredge and Brad Keller handled the seventh and eighth inning, respectively, Palencia locked up the win with a one-two-three ninth. He racked up a pair of strikeouts and gloved a weak grounder off the bat of Ezequiel Tovar and chased him down en route to first.
It was a great bounce-back showing for Palencia, who had given up five earned runs in his last nine games after allowing only six earned runs in his first 38 outings of the season. Palencia now has 21 saves with a 2.02 ERA on the year.
“We’ve seen it the whole year, what he’s capable of,” Busch said. “Hitters step into the box, they just seem so uncomfortable with him. Bouncing back from an outing like that, or a couple, that’s part of it. And I think he’s done an extremely good job of it this year.”
3. Traffic jam at the top
One of the goals for the Cubs down the stretch continues to be getting their offense rolling on a consistent basis into September. That includes having the top of the order getting back to the level on display in the first half.
While the Cubs managed just four runs in the end, the first four batters -- Busch, Kyle Tucker, Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ -- reached base 14 times combined in the win. That included a triple off the center-field wall in the sixth for Busch, who crossed the plate on a single from Tucker that scored Chicago’s decisive fourth run.
“No matter what part of the lineup,” Busch said, “if it’s the top of the lineup, middle or the bottom, or the whole lineup together, I think we have one-through-nine a bunch of guys who can have good at-bats and do their job consistently. I think it just gives other teams trouble.”