Cubs' Justin Steele tosses his first career complete game

There wasn’t much of a conversation that needed to be had between Justin Steele and his skipper when the left-hander walked into the dugout.

Steele had just completed a 1-2-3 top of the eighth inning Friday afternoon, and with his pitch count at 91, all Craig Counsell needed to know was that Steele was good to go out and get three more outs. Counsell didn’t hesitate to let him take the ball again.

As Steele walked back out for the top of the ninth, his warmup song (Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”) blared once again out of the Wrigley Field speakers. The crowd of 36,948 rose to their feet and gave him a loud ovation.

Everyone knew what was going on: Steele was looking to complete the game.

“That was special,” Steele said. “Wrigley’s a special place. Fans are aware at all times of what’s going on and they know big and special moments, and they knew it was a special moment for me.”

“It’s so rare in today’s game, and it’s great that the crowd recognized it, because it just doesn’t happen very much,” Counsell said. “You’re hoping that they see that he’s going out there and give him that recognition, because he certainly deserves it.”

Steele didn’t make the crowd wait very long for another reason to cheer.

It took only four pitches for him to finish off the Los Angeles Angels, ending the game with just one run allowed on two hits and two walks, while striking out seven in the Chicago Cubs‘ 5-1 win. It was the first complete game of Steele’s major league career.

“That one right there was probably the best baseball moment in my life,” he said.

As everyone knows, complete games are a lot less common today than they used to be. Steele’s is the first for a Cubs pitcher since Marcus Stroman’s on May 29, 2023, and it’s actually only the ninth for a Cubs pitcher since the start of 2017.

When Cubs legend Fergie Jenkins got his statue outside Wrigley Field two years ago, Steele was fascinated by the fact that Jenkins threw 267 complete games in his career. He said one of his goals was to throw a complete game “just to say I’d done it, because it’s so rare nowadays.”

Mission accomplished.

“It’s something I’ve been wanting to do,” Steele said. “I believe I said last year, one of my goals by the end of the season was to have a complete game. I wasn’t able to get one, but I was able to get one today. It’s definitely something to check off the checklist for me as far as my career goes. It was something I’ve been wanting to do, and hopefully I can do it a lot more.”

Prior to Steele’s outing, Counsell spoke about his development the last two years. Steele became the ace of the staff in 2023, putting together a season that had him in the Cy Young conversation for much of the year.

He’s repeated that success this season, including pitching to a 1.80 ERA in his previous seven starts entering Friday. But beyond what he does on the mound, he’s become more of a real leader for this group. That’s not just in fiery displays of passion like he had in Milwaukee last weekend, but also in his general mentality on the mound.

“There’s a confidence that you sense with the player,” Counsell said, “and when it’s a starting pitcher, it’s just, they know what they’re capable of, and they also feel that responsibility of, like, ‘It’s my job to do this.’ That’s where you try to get. That’s where pitchers try to get. And they take games kind of unto themselves, really.

“They can’t completely take them unto themselves. There’s obviously a hitting side and a defensive side and there’s nine innings in the game. But I think the great ones are able to do that, and I think we’ve seen Justin do that at times this year.”

That was on full display for Steele on Friday. The Angels hardly tested him, with only a pair of singles that led to their lone run coming in the fifth. Prior to that, Steele limited the opposition to just two walks (plus an error by Seiya Suzuki) for four no-hit innings, and he ultimately retired the last 13 batters he faced.

Of course, most great outings on the mound have some key defensive plays behind them, and this one was no different. There was strong defense around the field, but nobody’s was stronger than Miles Mastrobuoni, who made a number of impressive defensive stops to take away hits. Steele even said he’d give Mastrobuoni the “player of the game” title if he could.

But in the end, it comes down to what Steele was able to do. Mastrobuoni said postgame that Steele “was our No. 1 to start the season for a reason,” and by going out and putting the team on his back to lead them to a win, he proved that once again.

Now, with two straight victories, the Cubs are seven games under .500 (41-48) and 5 1/2 games back in the National League wild card race (at the time of writing). They’ve caught a little fire the last two days, and there’s still some time left before the trade deadline to close the gap.

Does this group have what it takes to go on a bit of a run?

“Totally,” Steele said. “We’re a little over the halfway point, and winning streaks happen all the time. It takes one winning streak to put us in position to be in a completely different spot than we were a few days ago. So, that’s what we want to do. We want to show up and just do everything we can to win each ballgame that day, and hopefully it turns into a lot more wins.”

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