The force was not with Yu on this particular Star Wars Day.
But Yu Darvish had help from a surging bullpen. Six relievers combined to pitch five scoreless innings to keep the Cubs in the game on the way to a 6-5 victory.
Allen Webster, Kyle Ryan, Brad Brach, Steve Cishek, Brandon Kintzler and Pedro Strop allowed three hits and one walk and struck out seven.
As the weather has slowly warmed up, so has the pen. Cubs relievers have allowed only 15 earned runs in 73⅔ innings since April 7.
And there’s reason to believe the bullpen will only get stronger with the imminent return of Mike Montgomery and the continued development of Dillon Maples.
Montgomery, out with a lat injury, had his fourth rehab start at Class AAA Iowa on Friday night, going six innings. He allowed one run and two walks and struck out three. Ryan is the only other lefty in the Cubs’ bullpen.
“Monty creates more depth,” manager Joe Maddon said. “There’s nothing wrong with creating depth.”
Maples, meanwhile, already has shown that he has the stuff of a top-shelf reliever and is making progress with his command.
He walked 39 batters in 38⅔ innings for Iowa last season and has five walks in his three outings for the Cubs in 2019. But the right-hander features a fastball in the high 90s and a nasty slider that helped him strike out the side Wednesday against the Mariners.
Maddon sees Maples as the guy who can come into the game in a situation that requires a strikeout.
“That’s quite a weapon,” he said. “It’s there. We’ve got to continue to nurture it. It’s gonna happen.”
Descalso day-to-day
Infielder Daniel Descalso left the game after three innings with soreness in his left ankle.
Maddon said Descalso felt something while rounding first base after singling in the first inning. He stayed in the game two more innings and struck out in the third.
Jason Heyward pinch-hit for Descalso in the fourth inning.
Descalso is considered day-to-day.
The Karkovice
Many baseball fans were introduced to the concept of pitching a Maddux after Kyle Hendricks dominated the Cardinals on Friday.
The Maddux, an unofficial stat named after former Cubs pitcher Greg Maddux, is when a pitcher throws a complete-game shutout with fewer than 100 pitches.
On Saturday, Maddon introduced an unfamiliar and very unofficial stat he coined after a different Chicago baseball player: catcher Ron Karkovice.
“Somebody gets ‘Karkoviced’ when they get jammed, and the pop-up is caught by the pitcher coming in,” Maddon said. “That’s when you’re ‘Karkoviced.’ . . . With all my sincerest apologies to Mr. Karkovice.”
Karkovice played 12 seasons with the White Sox, had a .221 career batting average and hit 96 home runs.
