Scott Maine sticks it out until end for victory

The eighth-largest crowd in triple-A Iowa franchise history witnessed a lot of everything Friday night at Principal Park — including a first for Cubs pitcher Scott Maine.

The lefty reliever recorded his longest stint in four-plus years as a professional while getting the save in the Cubs’ 5-3 win against Memphis before a crowd of 13,549.

He pitched the final three innings and struck out six, including three in the seventh.

“I don’t think I’ve ever gone three innings in pro ball,” Maine said. “I’ve gone 2 1/3 and 2 2/3, but I can’t ever remember finishing a third inning.”

How Friday’s victory happened was just as entertaining as the postgame fireworks, and it started by disproving the notion that pitchers can’t hit.

Manager Bill Dancy made a creative substitution in the fifth inning, summoning pitcher Jay Jackson from the bench to pinch hit for starting pitcher Alberto Cabrera with one out and runners at first and second, the Cubs trailing 3-0.

Jackson responded with a double that scored Jonathan Mota and Augie Ojeda, and then Jackson later scored the third run of the inning on a fly out to deep center by Tyler Colvin.

Using Jackson was a solid choice, given that he came into the game with six hits in 17 at-bats.

An inning later, the big and boisterous crowd saw that deadlock broken on consecutive homers by Bryan LaHair and Welington Castillo.

LaHair and Castillo enter Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against Albuquerque with a combined 30 homers, including 20 by LaHair. He’s 18 shy of breaking the franchise record of 37, set by Joe Hicks in 1984, with 68 games remaining.

“I can’t tell you anything about that,” LaHair said of the record. “If I hit the ball hard — some go out of the park and some don’t.”


(desmoinesregister.com)