BALTIMORE — What sort of pitchers are the Cubs trusting to close out games these days?
Dungeon-dwellers.
“It’s a weird vibe,” lefty reliever Ryan Rolison said of the underneath-the-bleachers Wrigley Field bullpen. “A lot of us want to be able to experience the crowd at Wrigley and to be able to soak in the atmosphere.
“But we’ve got to create that on our own down there in the dungeon.”
The sunshine and fresh air Ernie Banks immortalized? These pitchers don’t see it and don’t breathe it.
“We’ve got the Plexiglas up, so we can’t really hear the crowd that well,” Rolison said. “There’s chaos going on around us, and it’s just quiet in that dungeon.”
But the seas have been anything but quiet for the relief corps of late, with a roster’s worth of arms on the injured list simultaneously.
There’s no bigger sidelined name than righty Daniel Palencia, the fireballing closer who’s been down since June 16 working back from an inflamed elbow.
While injuries to righties Phil Maton, Hunter Harvey, Porter Hodge and Ethan Roberts, along with lefty Hoby Milner, have generated needs throughout the late innings, the Cubs have had to turn to a host of arms to try to get the game’s final three outs.
And they’ve done it with great success.
Coming into Wednesday, Cubs relievers boasted a 2.12 ninth-inning ERA since June 16 that ranked seventh in baseball.
Overall, results have been mixed. Since that June 16 date, the bullpen as a whole has an ERA above 5.00.
But the ninth-inning numbers are strong, and given the unexpected arms that are being deployed with games on the line, the frequency of big performances has been impressive.
“There were a bunch of injuries, and a bunch of us new faces got an opportunity,” Rolison said. “It’s a testament to everyone being ready when their name’s called.”
“I haven’t really ever pitched in leverage situations, so being able to have the opportunity to do that is great. Once you see you have success in leverage spots like that, it helps the confidence. I’ve seen myself be successful in those situations, and it helps me a lot as a pitcher to have experience like that.”
Rolison’s just one of a dozen arms to pitch in the ninth since Palencia went down, one of 10 to not give up a run in the ninth; only righties Jacob Webb and Jayden Murray have been scored on.
Webb has been tapped more than anyone, pitching the ninth in five games. He was scored upon in his first two outings after Palencia’s injury, but only one of those came in the ninth inning. Since, Webb has a six-outing scoreless streak.
The late-inning group includes somewhat unlikely names like Rolison, Webb and righties Trent Thornton and Tyler Ferguson, the guys manager Craig Counsell has at his disposal while others heal.
“We’re just trying to match it up and get guys in the right spots as best we can, knowing that [opposing teams are] going to unload benches, at times,” Counsell said Tuesday. “They’ve done great.”
That’s life in the bullpen, with all the mixing and matching meaning pitchers are told which parts of lineups they’ll face rather than which inning they can expect to pitch in.
And there’s been a lot of movement, too. With all the injuries, the bullpen is currently far from how Jed Hoyer’s front office drew it up. But the Cubs traded for Ferguson in May, traded for Murray in June, picked righty Bryse Wilson up off the waiver wire and brought lefty Drew Pomeranz back on a minor league deal.
“It feels a little weird, like I didn’t leave,” said Pomeranz, who pitched in six Cubs playoff games last season. “It feels like I picked right back up where I left off, to be honest.
“Last year was a special year for me, playing in Chicago, playing at Wrigley, playing for the Cubs. It’s easy to be excited about that every day.”
With ninth-inning results like these, what’s not to be excited about?
Even when you’re living in a dungeon.
