Chicago Cubs veteran reliever Héctor Neris continues to navigate traffic on the bases

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — When Héctor Neris is at his best, the veteran reliever is pounding the strike zone — and good things tend to happen for the Chicago Cubs.

As Neris has taken over the closer role following right-hander Adbert Alzolay’s inconsistencies and subsequent arm injury, the ninth inning has become adventurous at times he is on the mound. Part of that can be traced to Neris falling behind in the count. He is throwing a first-pitch strike at only a 53.9% clip, his lowest since 2016 and down from 56.4% last year in Houston.

“When he’s rolling and he’s attacking the strike zone, he’s getting ahead early, those things kind of take care of themselves,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “He’s been outstanding when he’s going ahead and attacking hitters and getting to put them away with the split and when he’s behind it’s tough game. That’s a big thing for Héctor. He’s a veteran guy that knows what he needs to be successful.”

With Neris unavailable Thursday after pitching in back-to-back games, manager Craig Counsell went to Mark Leiter Jr. in the seventh after left-hander Justin Steele spun six shutout innings. Leiter has been one of the Cubs’ most reliable relievers but ran into trouble when third baseman Patrick Wisdom couldn’t make a play on a soft grounder to his backhand, allowing the leadoff hitter to reach on an infield single, followed by a walk to the next batter, Jose Siri.

The Rays went on to score three runs in the inning off Leiter, who Counsell felt got burned by soft contact. It proved to be the difference in the Cubs’ 3-2 loss. Leiter delivered a blunt assessment of his outing postgame, taking on the blame for the team dropping another close one.

“I let the team down,” Leiter said. “I didn’t make enough pitches, that’s it. We played good enough game to win and I put us in a bad spot and didn’t make pitches, didn’t put them away, didn’t execute when I had a chance to put them away.

“We’re in the games, we’ve got a chance to win. We all just have to do our jobs and tonight I didn’t do mine and it cost us the game.”

The Cubs (33-36) have played in an MLB-leading 28 one-run games, four more than any other team. They fell to 13-15 in those situations.

“It’s going to help us in the long run,” Steele said. “It’s a long season, and down the road I feel like we’re really going to learn from this and we’re going to come out better because of it.”

The offensive inconsistency continued Thursday as the Cubs were held to three hits or fewer for the seventh time this season. They recorded eight such games in 2023.

Both runs in the fifth were the product of three consecutive bunts from Wisdom, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Yan Gomes, though Counsell said postgame Wisdom bunted on his own.

“We had three singles and three walks, that’s a tough way to put a bunch of runs on the board,” Counsell said.

The lack of run support leaves the pitching staff in dicey spots in high-leverage moments, as seen with Leiter on Thursday and Neris during the first two games of the series.

Hottovy believes things can get away from Neris when he tries to do too much or thinks about too many things. Hottovy made a mound visit during the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 4-3 win against the Tampa Bay Rays to simplify Neris’ thought process. Although Neris allowed a home run, he secured the save by retiring Brandon Lowe with two runners on to end the game.

“Sometimes guys get into high-leverage moments and try to do too many things or try to pitch to a result like first and second one out instead of trying to just get focused on getting that hitter out, you try to get a double play,” Hottovy said. “You try to go do something that’s a little bit out of your control, and I think what Héctor has done so well is being able to hand handle some of those high-leverage moments, just being able to simplify it into I just need to execute this pitch to this hitter in any moment and I’ll get that guy out.”

One message Hottovy, assistant pitching coach Daniel Moskos and the pitching staff has talked a lot about as a group is they’re always just one pitch away from escaping a tight spot or ending an at-bat.

“No matter how rough the first couple pitches go or the first couple of hitters go, you’re only a pitch or two away from getting out of that situation so really keeping that positive mentality,” Hottovy said.

In outings Neris does find himself with traffic on the bases, he often has a knack for working around the self-inflicted trouble. It’s not something the Cubs want him to deal with frequently because it adds stress and lessens the margin for error. But Neris clearly has developed trust with Hottovy and manager Craig Counsell.

“He does have the ability to go to a little bit a different place and understand like, what do you need to do to get out of them? I think that’s part of a veteran guy who’s pitched in a lot of games,” Hottovy said. “Being put in some higher-leverage moments, especially save situations in the ninth inning, and pitching through some traffic is not the most successful way to go about it. But he’s a veteran guy that’s been able to handle that and has learned how to navigate it in the past.”

As the Cubs manage staff workloads, left-hander Jordan Wicks takes over right-hander Ben Brown’s spot in the rotation. After making his first career relief appearance Saturday in Cincinnati, Wicks is scheduled to start Friday versus the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field. The Cubs would feel comfortable with letting Wicks get to the 75-85 pitch-count range given the rest he has had since coming off the injured list.