Jon Lester calls himself ‘weakest link’ in Cubs rotation

Jon Lester, the Cubs’ highest-paid pitcher, was pounded for a career-high 11 runs in the loss to the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.

After the game, he didn’t atone for his poor start, he rather sucked it up. 

“What happened is I gave up 11 runs,” Lester said after the 11-4 defeat. “It doesn’t matter how I feel. It doesn’t matter about a game plan. It doesn’t matter about executing pitches. It doesn’t matter about anything. I gave up 11 runs.”

Lester has struggled over his past four starts, allowing 19 earned runs over 22 innings for a 7.77 ERA. His ERA has ballooned from 3.74 to 4.46 over that span. 

“I’m pretty much the weakest link in the rotation right now,” Lester said. “I gotta figure out a way to right that ship, pick my end up and do better.

“Our rotation has pitched well except for me, you look at the last two games. So, flat out do better.”

Jon Lester was pounded for a career-high 11 runs in the loss to the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night. (Photo: Patrick Gorski, USA TODAY Sports)

With about seven weeks left in the regular season, the Cubs will need him to right the ship to make an October push. Heading into Wednesday’s game, Chicago holds a 2 1/2 game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals for first place in the National League Central.

Mild-headed Cubs manager Joe Maddon wasn’t too concerned with Lester’s performance. 

“Jon has been there before. This is a waste can kind of a night. You just dump it and move on.”

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.