CHICAGO (670 The Score) -- Cubs left-hander Mike Montgomery will forever be best-known in franchise lore for being the man on the mound when the team broke its 108-year championship drought in 2016, but most often he has filled another role.
A pitching life saver.
Thursday featured a quintessential Montgomery performance, as he threw five scoreless innings of relief and earned the win in the Cubs' 4-1 victory against the Marlins at Wrigley Field. In doing so, he became the first Cubs reliever to throw five innings or more of relief, earn the win and finish the game since Bob Scanlan in 1991. Montgomery's work came after right-hander Yu Darvish was again inconsistent, logging just four innings as he struggled with his command in throwing just 50 of his 97 pitches for strikes.
Montgomery has been a man of many roles for the Cubs, who acquired him from the Mariners in July 2016. He was instrumental when Darvish went down last May with a season-ending injury, stepping into the rotation and producing until the Cubs acquired left-hander Cole Hamels just before the trade deadline to fill their final rotation slot. In 2018, Montgomery became the first Cubs pitcher since Glendon Rusch in 2005 to make at least 19 starts and 19 relief appearances.
With that in mind, it was no surprise that Montgomery produced Thursday, holding the Marlins to three hits and two walks while striking out three in his five innings and saving his teammates in the Cubs bullpen. It was Montgomery's first work since he hit the injured list in the first week of April with a lat strain.
"He came out today and the first hitter he faced he took care of," manager Joe Maddon said. "He had a really good line to the plate and the ball was coming out hot. He had a nice way about him today. He looked very confident to me."
Keeping the rest of the bullpen fresh was key in Maddon's mind with a three-game series against the Brewers starting at Wrigley Field on Friday.
As usual, Montgomery has filled any role the Cubs need without complaint, saying he was "comfortable" in giving what "the situation called for" Thursday.
"That was good for us today," Montgomery said. "I had not pitched in the big leagues in over a month, so I was a little jittery. I just had the mindset of going back out there each inning, and it worked out for us. I just kept making pitches.
"We didn't know how the game was going to play out, but I was ready for anything. I knew it would be multiple innings. Having been built up to that the last two weeks put me in a position to be able to sustain my pitches. Having pitched six innings last time out at Triple-A gave me the ability to stay out longer."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
