![\"Cubs](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/CTC-Z-CUBS-MIA_e8febf.jpg\")
Cubs reliever Ryan Zeferjahn (56) and catcher Miguel Amaya embrace after defeating the Marlins 6-5 on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, in Miami. (JC Ruiz\/Getty)<\/p>\nMIAMI \u2014 Even when Javier Assad doesn\u2019t possess his best command, the right-hander finds a way to put the Chicago Cubs in position to win.<\/p>\n
Assad worked around a season-high five walks as he grinded through 4 2\/3 innings Saturday against the Miami Marlins, ultimately limiting enough damage in the Cubs\u2019 6-5 win at LoanDepot Park. Ryan Zeferjahn threw 1 2\/3 scoreless innings to earn his first save as a Cub.<\/p>\n
The victory assures the Cubs will maintain their hold of the National League\u2019s first wild-card spot over the Philadelphia Phillies as they go for the sweep Sunday with right-hander Clay Holmes on the mound.<\/p>\n
Cubs reliever Ryan Zeferjahn (56) and catcher Miguel Amaya embrace after defeating the Marlins 6-5 on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, in Miami. (JC Ruiz\/Getty)<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to stay calm and under control and work my game, and I\u2019ve got the best defense behind me, and I let them work, and it came up huge,\u201d Zeferjahn said. \u201cThe biggest thing for me, honestly, is not chasing strikeouts. Like I said, I\u2019ve got the best defense, and when you get a one-pitch out to start the ninth inning, so much weight\u2019s off your shoulders right there. So just focusing on that and then stay in the attack mode after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Making his first big-league start in a month, Assad gave up three hits and three runs, one of which scored when reliever Caleb Thielbar immediately surrendered a two-run home run to Griffin Conine, the first batter he faced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t as fine as usual,\u201d Assad said through an interpreter. \u201cI fought through, pitch by pitch. \u2026 I felt good out there, and it was good to at least leave the game with the score up. The last thing I want to do is to allow those walks, especially with the infield that we have, the defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s performance had all the ingredients for a bad Cubs loss.<\/p>\n
They wasted a first-inning scoring opportunity against Marlins starter Ryan Gusto when Pete Crow-Armstrong (walk) and Seiya Suzuki (single) reached to begin the game. Michael Busch followed with a strikeout on a pitch-clock violation for calling time a second time in the at-bat, then Alex Bregman hit into an inning-ending double play on the next pitch.<\/p>\n
The top of the second wasn\u2019t much better as the Cubs recorded two of their three outs at third base. Marlins center fielder Jakob Marsee delivered a great throw to nail Ian Happ aggressively attempting to go first to third on Nico Hoerner\u2019s single. Hoerner, who advanced to second on the throw, was easily nabbed trying to steal third to end the inning.<\/p>\n
The Cubs lineup put enough pressure on Gusto to break through.<\/p>\n
![\"Cubs](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/CTC-Z-CUBS-MIA_189460.jpg\")
Cubs designated hitter Michael Conforto, right, high-fives major-league coach Jonathan Mota after hitting a solo home run in the third inning against the Marlins on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, in Miami. (Marta Lavandier\/AP)<\/p>\n
Michael Conforto continued his strong season with a solo home run in the third, his 14th of the year, and Happ\u2019s two-run single with the bases loaded that inning extended the Cubs\u2019 lead. Crow-Armstrong, Hoerner and Busch each drove in a run in the ensuing three innings to help them maintain the lead.<\/p>\n
The Marlins kept trying to chip away, but the Cubs bullpen stepped up in the biggest moments. Left-hander Ryan Rolison entered with two outs in the seventh and stranded the tying and go-ahead runs by forcing Marsee to ground out. Manager Craig Counsell turned to Zeferjahn when the Marlins put the tying run on second against Rolison in the eighth. Zeferjahn handled the moment. He retired the next two hitters to escape with the lead intact and took care of business in the ninth to earn the save.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need him to be successful,\u201d Counsell said of Zeferjahn. \u201cHe\u2019s had a couple outings that didn\u2019t go his way. He\u2019s bounced back really good. The last couple I think have been very good, and he showed us tonight what he\u2019s capable of.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big-time performance. Those are tough ones to get, and he bailed us out tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the bullpen still looking for collectively consistency, Assad presence\u2019s on the pitching staff gives Counsell options.<\/p>\n
Assad\u2019s versatility has allowed the Cubs to utilize him in a variety of ways this season. Following the trade-deadline additions of Holmes<\/a> and Kevin Gausman<\/a>, Assad\u2019s role became more flexible. That also meant, as one of the only Cubs pitchers with minor-league options remaining, he was the odd man out when reliever Daniel Palencia was ready to return<\/a> from his two-month absence late last month.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of confidence in Javier Assad, no matter the situation or if he\u2019s been up or down or in the bullpen or starting, it\u2019s just so much credit to his mentality and his skill set,\u201d Hoerner told the Tribune. \u201cThose are hard things to deal with as a player so we have supreme confidence in him, and I thought he was great tonight.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the sign of a very level-headed and confident person, and it\u2019s easy for those kind of outside factors to get in your head as a player sometimes, but we all really admire him and know that he\u2019s a huge part of this team.\u201d<\/p>\n With Assad\u2019s return, reliever Tyler Ferguson was optioned to Iowa as the corresponding move.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have options, we create a better team through this and more flexibility through this and depth through this, that\u2019s what\u2019s best for the team,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cAnd you have to do your job, and the team kind of has to do their job if that makes sense, and there\u2019s nothing Javier can do about that part of it, there\u2019s nothing Tyler Ferguson can do about that part of it. They control when they go out on the mound, and that\u2019s their jobs. Now that\u2019s easy for me to sit here and say to do, but they\u2019ve done that part really well.\u201d<\/p>\n Saturday was the first day Assad could be recalled after spending the required minimum of 15 days at Triple-A Iowa. It aligned with the Cubs\u2019 desire to get the rest of the rotation an extra day of rest by using six starters for one turn. The upcoming off day Thursday \u2014 one of three during the final 22 days of the regular season \u2014 means the Cubs won\u2019t need to use six starters again to create additional rest for the rotation.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously things change,\u201d Counsell noted, \u201cbut the plan would be to not.\u201d<\/p>\n Assad hasn\u2019t shown any problems with the uptick in workload this season after being limited to 37 innings last year with the Cubs because of two oblique strains. Between Triple A and the Cubs this year, Assad has thrown 113 innings through Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s gotten people out, I mean, that\u2019s what you\u2019re here to do, and I think he\u2019s done a really good job of that,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cAnd that means that we\u2019ve won games when he\u2019s pitched, and he\u2019s done that as a starter, he\u2019s done that as a long reliever in the middle of a game, kind of putting the game back together where the start doesn\u2019t go well, so that\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 Even when Javier Assad doesn\u2019t possess his best command, the right-hander finds a way to put…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1045960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[2730,68503,960,1271,1816,5604,5386,1818,63313,1286,5606,27349,13715,1277,352202,8753],"class_list":["post-1045959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-alex-bregman","tag-caleb-thielbar","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-craig-counsell","tag-ian-happ","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-javier-assad","tag-miami-marlins","tag-michael-busch","tag-michael-conforto","tag-nico-hoerner","tag-pete-crow-armstrong","tag-ryan-zeferjahn","tag-seiya-suzuki"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117221404134943791","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1045959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1045960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1045959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1045959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1045959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}