Cubs limit Steele's workload, but beat Toronto 5-4 on Morel's clutch hit
Justin Steele is moving into uncharted territory in his relatively young career.
The Cubs left-hander has already hit a career-high in innings pitched, majors or minors, and was coming off the longest outing of his Cubs career at 110 pitches last Sunday against Atlanta.
So manager David Ross played it safe and limited Steele to 5 innings and 84 pitches in Toronto. Steele wasn't credited with the win, but an RBI double by Christopher Morel in the top of the ninth sent Cody Bellinger home with the winning run as the Cubs edged Toronto 5-4 on Saturday.
The Cubs (61-56) clinched the series win over the Blue Jays and are now 18-6 since July 18. They matched their season-high of five games above .500, which they first hit at 12-7 on April 21.
Steele's last four games all had a high pitch count by modern standards, with 110, 101, 92 and 100. He got an extra day off between starts this week, since the Cubs had their first day off after playing 16 straight. They'll get two more days off this week.
"When you get that extra day, it may not seem like much, but it definitely plays a factor in things," Steele told reporters after the game. "I definitely learned a lot from last season and the season before and I put a lot of work into this offseason, preparing my body to go 162 and hopefully more. I feel like I'm in a good spot right now. Just felt good out there and want to keep going."
Steele has talked often about his decision to move to Arizona last winter so he could work out regularly at the Cubs complex, and how much it paid off. He's at 126 innings and 22 starts now. Last year he threw 119 innings in 24 starts. His peak in the minor leagues was 98 innings, all the way back in 2017 with Myrtle Beach.
"Learning from last year what it would take for me to make it 30 starts, more innings than I've ever thrown and stuff," Steele said. "I just took what I learned from last year. I can't think of anything specifically, just getting my body in the right place is the main thing."
Facing former St. Louis fireballer Jordan Hicks in the ninth inning, Bellinger and Morel came through with a pair of doubles to plate the winning run.
"I was just waiting for my pitch," Bellinger said. "Saw it, reacted and put a pretty good swing on it."
Hicks got as high as 102.1 miles per hour on the radar gun, according to Statcast. Morel hit one of the slowest pitchers Hicks threw, an 86-mph sweeper, into the left-field corner. Morel had been in a 2-for-27 slump, going back to Aug. 3, but he does lead the Cubs in ninth-inning batting average at .360.
The Cubs' 4 runs came in a quick outburst in the fourth inning. Nico Hoerner doubled, Ian Happ walked, Bellinger singled off the wall to score Hoerner, then Dansby Swanson blasted a 3-run homer.
Outside of that one flurry, the Cubs managed just one other hit against Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt over 6 innings. He started the day with a 2.56 ERA at home this season, so it wasn't a bad output.
During Steele's last inning of work, Whit Merrifield sent a Steele four-seam over the fence for a 2-run homer that brought Toronto within 4-3.
To start the sixth, Michael Fulmer took the mound for the second straight day. He got two outs then gave up a double to rookie Davis Schneider. Mark Leiter Jr. came on to face the left-handed Cavan Biggio, but walked him, then gave up a ground-rule double to shortstop Santiago Espinal to tie the game. The ball bouncing over the fence saved the Cubs a run.
Adbert Alzolay, closing for the second straight day, retired the Blue Jays in order to record his 16th save.
On Sunday, starting pitcher Jameson Taillon will try to stretch his personal winning streak to six in a row as the Cubs go for the sweep.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports