With their season on the line for a second straight night at Wrigley Field, the Cubs picked Matthew Boyd to get them off to a good start.
Boyd, who didn’t make it out of the first inning in Game 1 of the team’s NLDS matchup with the division-rival Brewers, was tabbed to start a win-or-go-home Game 4, which begins shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday on the North Side.
“I know what I’m going to do when the ball is in my hand. When that time comes [Thursday], I’ll be ready,” Boyd said after Wednesday’s series-extending Cubs win. “I know what I’m going to do, go compete and leave it all out there on the field.
“It takes all of us to go where we want to go. I’ll do my role, and when that time comes, I’ll be ready to do exactly what I know I’m going to do.”
The lefty Boyd was an All Star this season and finished his first campaign with the Cubs with a 3.21 ERA in 31 starts.
Thursday will be his third start of the postseason. He allowed a run in 4 1/3 innings in Game 1 of the wild-card series against the Padres before surrendering six runs (only two were earned) and getting just two outs in Game 1 of the NLDS.
The Cubs’ decision to start Boyd in Game 1 in Milwaukee generated more than a little second-guessing, with Boyd pitching on only three days’ rest. Thursday, he’ll be on four days’ rest, the normal amount pitchers get between starts in the regular season.
“More than anything, it gives you the routine that you’ve done all year,” Boyd said.
What Boyd is able to do early figures to be important, given the way the series has gone to this point. Both the Cubs and Brewers have poured on the runs in the first inning, with 18 of the series’ 29 runs scored in the game’s opening frame.
The Cubs need a win to force a winner-take-all Game 5, which would come Saturday in Wisconsin, if necessary.
A loss, and they’ll be eliminated from the postseason.
“We’ve got a great group,” Boyd said. “It’s a group that, it doesn’t matter what happened, win or lose, the day before. All that matters is what’s in front of us right now.”