Levine: John Lackey Keeps Cubs' Rotation Magic Going

By Bruce Levine--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Great starting pitching has been the main ingredient for the Cubs gaining a huge lead in the NL Central, and that theme continued Friday at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs entered the day with their starting rotation sporting a sparkling 2.38 ERA, which led the league. That mark dropped to 2.33 after right-hander John Lackey and three relievers combined to lead the Cubs to a league-best sixth shutout in a 6-0 win against the Diamondbacks.

Chicago is now 38-15, a season-best 23 games over .500 and winners of nine of its past 10.

"I have seen some pretty good starting pitching, but this is really good," manager Joe Maddon said."Each (starter) goes out there and you feel pretty good about them going deep into the game. The game planning is really good, the stuff under the hood (meetings on hitters) that nobody ever sees. Our guys have been really good at that."

The veteran Lackey has pitched games with plenty of run support this season and some without much at all. On Friday, Arizona's Archie Bradley matched Lackey pitch for pitch through five innings without giving up a run.

In the sixth, Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo's RBI double on a bad read by Chris Owings bad read in center field gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead, which was all they needed on this day.

Chicago added five runs in during an error-filled half-inning by Arizona.

"On that one luckily, the center fielder didn't get that good of a read on it," Rizzo said of his RBI double. "I was surprised to see it go over his head. (My luck) has not gone like that personally. That is baseball."

In Lackey's first start as a Cub, he gave up six earned runs in six innings against the Diamondbacks on April 7 but still got the win. In moving to 6-2 on Friday, Lackey was much better, scattering five hits over 6 2/3 scoreless innings while striking out nine.

After a rough first month in which he posted a 4.97 ERA, Lackey has been terrific, posting a 1.81 ERA in his past seven starts, dating to the beginning of May.

"I am throwing a lot of strikes and challenging people," Lackey said. "We are not walking a lot of people. We really get after it. Our guys are playing great defense as well. You have to give those guys a lot of credit too. They are really helping us out."

Lackey departed the game with two on and two outs in the seventh. Reliever Adam Warren induced pinch-hitter Chris Herrmann into a groundout to keep the shutout in place.

Still getting use to pitching for the creative Maddon, Lackey didn't expect to be taken out.

"Yeah I was a little surprised," Lackey said. "It worked out fine."

At the conclusion of Friday's game, the Cubs had a season-high nine-game lead in the NL Central. Maddon believes he can now use this unexpectedly large lead to protect his players from overuse.

"The two things I can do is not pitch our pen into the ground and make sure the (position player) guys are getting some rest," Maddon said.

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.