Jon Lester puzzled after early knockout

The pause between sentences spoke volumes about the bewildered state of Chicago Cubs left-hander Jon Lester.

“Really, what it comes down to is no matter what I say doesn’t justify or sum up what happened,” Lester said after being tagged for seven runs on seven hits – including three home runs – in only 2 2/3 innings of a 15-8 loss to the Detroit Tigers.

The thumping occurred after Lester (8-9) appeared to be on one of his typical mid-season surges. But Lester seemed puzzled that he was tagged despite contending he made quality pitches.

“A 1-1 fastball to a pitcher who squares it up,” Lester said of his two-run home run allowed to Daniel Norris in his first major league at-bat. “You tip your hat. I threw a two-seamer down and away to Nick Castellanos, and he hits it out to right. I threw a 0-0 curve to the same guy (Castellanos for a grand slam). I think I go back two years, and that’s the first pitch curve hit, let alone home run, I’ve given up. So that pretty much sums it up.”

Lester was especially disappointed he couldn’t pitch deeper after Jason Hammel was pulled after only three innings Tuesday night because of a two-hour, 17-minute rain delay that stretched the bullpen.

Then there’s the case of the Tigers, who handed Lester with his shortest outing since he lasted only two innings against Texas on April 17, 2012.

“I would like to think I’m a very good pitcher, and I made pitches that should be outs,” said Lester, who entered Wednesday’s game with a 4-2 record and 1.92 ERA in his past eight starts. “That being said, they have some good hitters. They have some stats on their side as far as what’s going on.

“At the same time, when you need to keep pitches down in the zone, I’ll be the first one to tell you if I throw a ball down the middle that’s belt-high, I’ll be the first one to tell you. I’ll promise you. But I feel within that game I feel there were pitches I made that deserved better results.”

Hammel refused to cite the fact that the winds were blowing from the southwest at 15 mph as an excuse.

“It’s easy to point fingers at things,” Lester said. “I don’t know (about the wind). Like I said, I’m trying to look at the pitches that were made and the results were there. And it doesn’t quite correspond to what’s going on. You guys can make that out to what it needs to be. No matter what I say doesn’t justify the outcome.”

Lester said he would watch a videotape of his game Thursday “with a clear head to see where everything was.”

“And if it was the same, you move on. If it wasn’t, you still move on. You got to. This season is too long, and there are too many ups and downs to allow those abomination starts that stick out to affect your season.”

Manager Joe Maddon wasn’t worried about Lester and gave all the credit to the Tigers’ offense.

“I’m not going to carry this game too far.”

Maddon didn’t seem too worried about rookie third baseman Kris Bryant, who fouled a pitch off his foot early in the game but went 4-for-4 with a two-run home run and didn’t seem bothered while running out a triple in the ninth.

“As far as I know, he’s fine,” Maddon said.

Bryant is batting .345 in August while leading all major league rookies with 68 RBIs.

Meanwhile, fellow rookie Kyle Schwarber became the Cubs’ first player since Bob Speake in 1955 to hit 10 home runs in the first 36 games of his career.