On the list of things in sports that seems hard to believe is Jon Lester hadn’t made a pickoff attempt since 2013. On Monday, that streak came to an end. Based on the result of Lester’s second attempt, it may be a while before he throws over to first base again.
During the second inning of Monday’s game between the Cubs and Reds, Lester attempted a pickoff throw with Zack Cozart at first. What followed was the veteran pitcher completely overthrowing Anthony Rizzo with the ball ending up in the bullpen area.
Much has been made of Lester’s lack of holding base runners and it caused him to be defensive about the subject after his start in the season’s first game.
“This really wasn’t a big issue until somebody brought it up on TV,” Lester said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “Now I’m sitting here answering questions about it. I don’t know. I think I had eight or nine or 10 stolen bases off me last year, it was not a lot.”
Whether it’s all in Lester’s head or simply nothing to worry about, opposing teams are going to try to take advantage of him on the base paths until he makes more of an attempt to control the running game. If Lester was not in the mood to answer questions after his first start, he can surely expect to receive quite a few more over the couple of days.
