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Cubs' Maddon: Davis won't close Thursday after 48-pitch Game 4

Dennis Wierzbicki / USA TODAY Sports

If the Chicago Cubs are going to force the National League Championship Series back to Chavez Ravine, they'll more than likely have to do it without the services of their All-Star stopper.

Wade Davis needed 48 pitches to record a six-out save Wednesday in a 3-2 Game 4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. It marked Davis' second multi-inning save in as many October appearances, and while his harrowing performance ultimately kept the Cubs' season alive for at least one more day, it also appears to have ruled him out of action for Thursday's Game 5.

"It's not going to be (Davis)," Maddon said when asked who might close Thursday, according to ASAP Sports. "So this is where the (other) guys got to pretty much do their jobs.

"Wade did the job tonight, so tomorrow we'll be able to parcel it out a little more cleanly. (Pedro) Strop's good, C.J.'s (Carl Edwards Jr.) good, (John) Lackey's good, (Hector) Rondon's good, (Brian) Duensing's good, (Mike) Montgomery's good. They're all good.

"So other guys got to do it."

Davis, for his part, refused to rule himself out of Game 5 entirely, though he stopped short of declaring himself ready to go.

"I'm definitely going to come out (Thursday), get some treatment and go out and play catch and see how I feel," he told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Davis - the defending champions' lone All-Star representative in July - was Chicago's hero during the NLDS when he threw 44 pitches in a 2 1/3-inning save to eliminate the Nationals. Wednesday marked Davis' first appearance since those Game 5 heroics.

Maddon was roundly criticized on social media for having career starter John Lackey pitch - and lose - the ninth inning of Game 2 rather than his 32-year-old stopper. The skipper defended that move by noting Davis wasn't available for another prolonged appearance that night.

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