Cubs' Lester 'felt good' in minor-league game

Chicago Cubs left-hander Jon Lester provided an encouraging update after throwing 54 pitches against minor-league hitters at Sloan Park on Thursday, his first competitive action since complaining of a "dead arm" last week.

"It was good," Lester told MLB.com's Mike Bauman. "It felt good. Everything felt good."

The 31-year-old used his entire repertoire Thursday under the supervision of manager Joe Maddon, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and several coaches, throwing 33 of his pitches for strikes over 3 2/3 innings.

"Cutter was good at times, bad at times," Lester said. "Curveball was pretty inconsistent. That's something that just comes with arm strength. For me, that's something that doesn't show up until April, May or even until it warms up, where you can really feel comfortable with that curveball, where you can differentiate between dumping one in or bouncing one for two strikes."

More importantly, however, Lester threw without discomfort and reached 93 mph on the radar gun, earning praise from Maddon for his poise on the mound.

"I thought he looked really comfortable and his arm was working well," said Maddon. "I thought as the game went along, maybe in the fourth inning, he was coming out of his delivery a little bit. But I thought overall it was really good.

"What I was really watching was him, watching his face. It never seemed like anything bothered him, so his arm felt great. He threw some good fastballs, some nice cutters, yeah, yeah, yeah, but he felt comfortable and that's the most important thing. I liked what I saw today."

Lester, though, wasn't prepared to speculate about his status for his club's season opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on April 5 at Wrigley Field.

"I've got one more start, so we've got to get through that first," Lester said. "I don't like to go past the next one. Today was good, look forward to the next one. If everything goes well, then we can talk about Opening Night. Whether I'm healthy or I'm struggling, I always like to focus on the next one, because that's the most important one."