Ben Brown delivers another stellar start, tossing 4 shutout innings in Cubs’ 2-0 win to snap skid
ATLANTA — Manager Craig Counsell thought going into Thursday’s series finale against the Atlanta Braves that the Chicago Cubs would have a hard time getting four innings out of right-hander Ben Brown. Brown is still building up his pitch count with his transition from the bullpen to the rotation, requiring high efficiency facing Major League Baseball’s best offense to give them that many outs. The Cubs want to be cautious with Brown, though Counsell acknowledged pregame, “it’d be great if he had an outing like he did in Texas, but to get through four innings in 45 pitches is not something you normally see.
” Well, Brown needed a few more pitches this time, but the 26-year-old delivered a stellar performance to help the Cubs avoid getting swept at Truist Park. Brown again tossed four shutout innings, surrendering just one hit while walking one and striking out seven on 65 pitches. The Cubs did just enough to scratch a run across against Braves lefty Chris Sale, and the bullpen kept tossing up zeros en route to a 2-0 victory to snap a four-game losing streak.
“They’re a really good offense: How well can we slow the game down and execute pitches with runners on base? I think that’s something that can get lost,” Brown said. “The game speeds up and you start to miss pitches, but ultimately you just keep making pitch after pitch after pitch against these really advanced hitters, results will come.
” The development of his change-up and incorporating a sinker has given Brown more to work with beyond his go-to elite fastball-curveball combination. In an encouraging sign Thursday, Brown kept throwing his change-up despite the pitch, in his estimation, being the worst it has been all year. But he still threw it “so honestly, that’s a big win,” Brown said.
Brown recorded four batted-ball outs on his change-up and sinker and even flashed the pitches to open an at-bat three times. “I really believe because he’s added a couple pitches that it gives the hitter something else to consider,” Counsell said, “instead of this or that, it’s this or this or this, and that’s a big difference. ” Pitching coach Tommy Hottovy equated Brown’s role this season to a fork in the road, though not in a do-this-or-things-won’t-go-well way.
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