Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
After not pitching in the majors for 10 months because of injury, Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Matt Garza made his long-anticipated return on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Garza was brilliant, not allowing a run over five innings of work. He only allowed one hit, but did walk three batters while striking out five. Garza was on a pitch limit of about 85-90, but was pulled after five innings because he had thrown 82.
Garza struggled a bit with command, especially in the first inning where he threw 22 pitches. That being said, he was able to get out of trouble in the first with help from an outstanding catch in the outfield by Julio Borbon, and pretty much cruised for the rest of the night. Garza also hit a two-run double in the second inning, which was very surprising considering he is known as being a very poor hitter. As a matter of fact, he only had one career RBI heading into Tuesday night.
“I was a little disappointed I didn’t take it deeper,” Garza said, according to Paul Sullivan. “I had 85-90 pitches to work with. I don’t like coming out in the fifth. Felt great getting back out there, but it sucks the way it ended.” Garza also reached 95 mph on his fastball, which is nice to see coming off of an injury.
Unfortunately, the Cubs’ bullpen blew the game for Garza. He left in the fifth with a 3-0 lead, and the bullpen went right ahead and gave up five runs in the sixth inning. Hector Rondon, James Russell, and Shawn Camp (who I thought should have been let go to make room for Garza, instead they let Michael Bowden walk) all gave up at least one earned run in the sixth.
Camp gave up a two-out grand slam to Travis Snider and the Cubs never held the lead again, losing the game 5-4.
The bright side to this game was definitely the successful return of Garza. If he can keep it up, the already very good Cubs starting rotation will be taken to another level.
Daniel is a Chicago Cubs writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @D_Schmelzer and add him to your network on Google.
