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 Lester followed teammate Jake Arrieta's brilliant performance one
night earlier with one of his own, pitching seven strong innings to
lead the Chicago Cubs to a 6-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on
Tuesday night at Angel Stadium.
Arrieta blanked the Angels on two hits through seven innings on
Monday. Lester (1-0) also went seven innings, holding the Angels to
one run on four hits. He struck out four and did not walk a batter.
"Obviously, the starting pitching always sets the tone, and Jon was
outstanding," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "Jake and then Jon
tonight, they're outstanding, both Cy Young kind of pitchers."
Last year, Lester was hampered by an arm issue in spring training
and wasn't able to have the type of season he would have hoped for
after signing a six-year, $155 million contract with Chicago.
Now, Lester feels healthy and is confident this season will be
different.
 "Obviously, I'm in a better place than I was last year coming into
the season," Lester said. "Last year was just so different. There
was a lot of hype involved just around myself and a lot of
expectations for myself, and you try to go out in that first start
and live up to those expectations all at once as opposed to just
letting the season play out.
"Physically, mentally, I'm light years ahead of where I was at this
time last year."
For the Angels, facing Arrieta and Lester turned out to be as tough
a challenge as could have been expected. They totaled seven hits in
the two games combined, and they were outscored 15-1 in the series.
"The guys understand what it's about," Angels manager Mike Scioscia
said. "They understand they're facing some good pitching, and those
guys took it to us for two games. These guys are battling up there
at the plate, and we'll get better as we start to get our legs under
us in the batter's box."
Like Arrieta, Lester also got support from the Cubs offense, which
made the most its nine hits. Dexter Fowler singled and hit a two-run
homer, Anthony Rizzo added a two-run homer, Matt Szczur singled and
hit a solo homer, and Ben Zobrist and David Ross each had two hits.
Angels starter Andrew Heaney went six innings, and five of them were
scoreless. However, the Cubs put together five hits in a four-run
third inning that set the tone of the game.
Heaney gave up four runs on seven hits in all, striking out seven
and walking none. He briefly had to be treated by a trainer when his
nose started bleeding after he made his first pitch of the second
inning.
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"Andrew really gutted it up tonight and showed us something,"
Scioscia said. "It's not easy to pitch when you have cotton up (your
nose). He went out there after the one rough inning in the third and
bounced back and got through six innings."
About the only good news for the Angels was that they weren't shut
out again, scoring their first run of the season in the sixth inning
when Yunel Escobar doubled and scored on a single by Craig Gentry.
Mike Trout went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and is now 0-for-8 with
three strikeouts through two games. Albert Pujols went 0-for-4 and
is now 0-for-7 overall.
The Cubs opened the scoring in the third inning. Szczur, starting in
left field in place of Kyle Schwarber, homered to lead off the
inning.
Ross doubled, went to third on Fowler's infield single and scored
when Jason Heyward grounded into a force play. One out later, Rizzo
crushed a pitch from Heaney, hitting it over the fence in center
field for a two-run homer and a 4-0 Cubs lead.
NOTES: Angels RHP Jered Weaver threw about 65 pitches during a
simulated game Tuesday afternoon at Angel Stadium and came out of it
feeling good. Weaver, bothered most of spring by a sore neck, is
expected to start Sunday's game against the Texas Rangers. ...
Monday was a good day for Cubs reserve OF Matt Szczur, who was a
two-sport standout at Villanova, where he played both football
(receiver, running back and Wildcat quarterback) and baseball. He
watched from the top step of the dugout when the stadium scoreboard
showed Villanova's game-winning shot in the NCAA basketball
tournament, then came off the bench and hit a three-run double in
the ninth inning. Szczur (pronounced "Cesar") was in the starting
lineup Tuesday in place of LF Kyle Schwarber. ... The Angels also
flip-flopped left fielders for the game, Craig Gentry getting the
start after Daniel Nava started Monday.
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