Cubs hitters having fun robbing Hector Rondon of saves

9:11 AM ET

CHICAGO — Chicago Cubs hitters really mean no offense to their closer, Hector Rondon. They simply want to add on runs and win baseball games without a nail-biting ninth inning. In that vein, they play a game catcher David Ross brought to the team.

“When you’re on the bench and you’re up three runs, two runs, whatever, we have a game we call Screw the Closer,” Ross explained, laughing and admitting ‘screw’ isn’t the word the players actually use. “We want to score more so he doesn’t get the save.”

Of course, the game is in jest. The Cubs are perfectly fine with Rondon getting a save, but they like adding on to the huge run differential that has defined their season so far. How’s the game going? Pretty good when you consider the Cubs rank second in baseball in runs scored from the seventh inning on. Rondon has been a yo-yo, warming up only to sit down again when the Cubs score too many runs late in the game.

“He gets up and down a lot,” Cubs bullpen coach Lester Strode laughed of Rondon’s workday. “I’d say 4-5 times he’s been ready in the eighth inning and then he’s not needed.”

Rondon is 6-for-6 in save opportunities after converting his latest one over the weekend against the Washington Nationals. For a 24-win team, you would think he’d have had a few more chances, but that’s not the case. That’s because the Cubs’ run differential over their first 30 games is out of this world: plus-102. It hasn’t resulted in many tight games at the end.

“I think 4-5 times already I got up [then down], but it doesn’t bother me,” Rondon said Sunday. “[Anthony] Rizzo and …

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