MILWAUKEE -- Joe Nathan joked that he was so nervous running in from the bullpen on Sunday that he needed a defibrillator when he got to the mound. For the first time since his second Tommy John surgery, he was pitching in the big leagues. And the right-hander got into a mess pretty quickly, before showing why he could be a key piece for the Cubs down the stretch.
Nathan, activated from the disabled list Sunday, started the sixth inning against the Brewers, and gave up a triple to Jonathan Villar, then walked Hernán Pérez. Nathan now faced the Brewers' 3-4-5 batters, Ryan Braun, Jonathan Lucroy and Chris Carter. And he struck out all three.
"That was a bad moment," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said of the start of the inning. "He made good pitches to every one of them. ... That was purely experience. I thought everything got better inning in progress."
As it turned out, Nathan got the win as the Cubs topped the Brewers, 6-5.
"Nathan gets the victory by pitching out of a real storm," Maddon said.
"My energy was definitely a lot higher than I probably wanted it running out there," Nathan said. "The adrenaline was through the roof. Villar put a good swing on a slider I left up a little bit more than I wanted to. I put myself in the hole right out of the chute.
"I knew I was in a tough spot. I just tried to tell myself to stay within myself and make pitches. I told myself, 'Take the results out of it and let's make quality pitches and see what we can do.'"
After Nathan had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow a second time, he could've walked away from the game. But the right-hander said he wasn't ready to retire.
"For me, from day one [of rehab], it wasn't a question of if I'm going to try to come back from this," Nathan said before the game. "Why wouldn't I at least put my best foot forward to rehab this either way? I needed to get healthy to just live my life and play catch with my son and my daughter and do that stuff.
"If I'm going to rehab it, I might as well go 100 percent and see where it goes," he said. "At the same time, a good test for me was I was living at home, going through it, bringing the kids to school, doing homework, doing normal stuff and at the same time I still had the itch and still had that bug. I think that told me, too."
It's not Nathan didn't like being home with his family. <p. 11="" 3="" 30="" 377="" 60-day="" 9="" a="" about="" acquired="" agent="" an="" and="" appearance="" april="" as="" at="" back="" ballpark="" be="" because="" bonus="" butt="" call="" called="" career="" celebration="" closer="" club="" come="" could="" cubs="" cubs.="" d="" disabled="disabled" do="" double-a="" earned="" experience="" felt="" find="" first="" five="" five.="" for="" fortunate.="" four="" free="" from="" game="" games="" gave="" get="" getting="" got="" guys="" had="" has="" have="" he="" hector="" helped="" his="" hits="" home.="" i="" if="" immediately="" in="" iowa="" is="" it="" it.="" join="" joining="" just="" kick="" last="" league="" list.="" made="" me="" minor="" minutes="" motivated="" my="" nathan="" nathan.="" nine="" not="" of="" on="" one="" opening="" opportunity="" out="" outing="" over="" p="" perfect="" pitches="" placed="" post-game="" really="" rehab="" replace="" rondon.="" runs="" s="" said.="" set-up="" shot="" signed="" something="" special.="" spot.="" stay="" still="" striking="" system="" team="" tennessee="" that="" the="" then="" these="" think="" this="" those="" thought="" three="" threw="" tigers="" to="" triple-a="" trying="" up="" walking="" walks="" want="" was="" went="" what="" when="" where="" who="" why="" win="" with="" work="" year=""> </p.>
"I think if that's what these guys do after wins, I'm looking forward to many more," Nathan said. "I knew it was a fun team just by watching them on television. It seems even more so when you're part of them."