Cubs starter Jon Lester was terrific on Wednesday afternoon, as he struck out a season-high 14 batters, en route to the 3-2 win over the Rockies. Lester allowed two runs on five hits over eight solid innings, as he threw 77 of his 117 pitches for strikes.
Lester (6-8) gave up a run in the fourth, and another in the seventh on a Carlos Gonzalez solo home run. Other than that, he kept the Rockies at bay with the 14 whiffs. Lester recorded the most amount of strikeouts in a game by a Cubs pitcher since 2004, and he's the only Cubs left-hander to strikeout 14 batters in a game since at least 1914.
Lester has pitched at least seven innings in each of his past seven starts, going 2-2 with a 1.66 ERA over that stretch.