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Levine: Cubs' Jon Lester Bounces Back With Support Of Long Ball

By Bruce Levine--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Using the usual solid Cubs offense as a support system, left-hander Jon Lester pitched 6 1/3 strong innings for his first win since May 10 as Chicago beat Philadelphia, 6-2, on Friday at Wrigley Field.

Lester was coming off one of his worst professional starts, having allowed five earned runs in 2 2/3 innings against San Francisco last weekend.

In improving to 5-3 this season, Lester wasn't pinpoint-sharp to begin the contest. Phillies lead-off man Obudel Herrera saw nine pitches before making the first out of the game. Lester worked his way through a few minor bumps in the road in allowing two runs, one earned, on six hits and two walks while striking out seven.

"He threw more strikes today," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "In San Francisco, it got away from us a little bit. Jon was in a lot of bad counts. Today, he was more around the plate, forcing the ball in play. He threw a couple of really pertinent curve balls. His cutter was good. I thought early on he had a good fastball. The ball was jumping from the dugout. He hit 95 mph. He had good life on his stuff today."

Long home runs by Jorge Soler and David Ross gave Lester an early cushion to work behind in the bottom of the fourth. Soler's blast, a solo home run, hit the bottom of the left-field scoreboard. Ross hit a three-run homer off of the Nuveen sign over the left-field bleachers. For Ross, it was his 100th career homer.

"His stuff was better today," Ross said of Lester. "His cutter was nice and firm, he was pounding the fastball, locating the fastball. His change-up got some early outs. They were swinging from jump street."

Lester gave up an unearned run in the third inning after Dexter Fowler dropped a fly ball in center field and Javier Baez let Fowler's worm-burning, 10-hop throw back to the infield get away from him. The double error led to a sacrifice fly.

"I felt like my cutter was pretty good," Lester said. "As the game went on, from the third inning on, I probably got back to my old cutter. I finally feel my curve ball was consistent today. I was able to throw it for a strike in and get some swings and misses. That is a real positive for me when I can get that pitch going."

After a 4-5 road trip, the Cubs were happy to get back to Wrigley Field and start a long 10-game homestand. They're now 15-6 at home this season.

"We are good, and we were good then," Lester said when asked about a recent 6-8 stretch. "We are fine. There was no panic in our clubhouse by any means. We talked about it the other day -- I compare the baseball season to a roller coaster ride. We played a really good team in the Giants and finished the road trip well. We are home and we all know how well we play here. Hopefully, we continue this and keep going."

Cubs starting pitchers lead the major leagues with a 2.56 ERA.

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

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