Contreras pumps ‘oxygen’ into injury-depleted Cubs

MIAMI – Willson Contreras said it during spring training and repeated it to Iowa media last month: He would not be needing a round trip ticket once the Cubs called him up to the majors.

“I told them once I get here I’m not going to be back anymore, because here is where I want to be,” Contreras said after driving in three runs in the injury-depleted Cubs’ 5-4 victory over the Marlins on Friday – including a game-winner in the seventh inning that helped snap a four-game losing streak.

“Love it,” manager Joe Maddon said. “That’s exactly the attitude a player should have. He’s different. In all the best ways.”

And exactly what the Cubs need at a time lineup regulars seem to be dropping nearly as fast as the team’s winning percentage this month. On Friday, six hitters from the active Opening Day roster were unavailable, including four on the disabled list – with Ben Zobrist threatening to join the bench for a day after getting hit on the left foot by a pitch Friday.

What Contreras has done in eight, meteoric days in the majors?

“It’s like oxygen,” Maddon said. “It’s actually necessary. What he’s done over the last couple days and the life that he’s brought to the group – it’s not hard to quantify. It’s absolutely necessary. He has been a catalyst.”

One day after filling in for the sidelined Anthony Rizzo at first base, Contreras was back in the cleanup spot, but behind the plate for sidelined catcher Miguel Montero.

Within minutes of the first pitch, he had a two-run, opposite-field homer to right – his third home run in six days – as the Cubs scored four in the first. Six innings later, he lined a single to right to drive home Kris Bryant from second with the go-ahead run.

“I know around here it’s kind of something that everybody just kind of expects, how well all of these young guys play,” said Zobrist, the first-year Cub. “But what he’s done is nothing short of amazing for a guy in his first week.”

The high-energy Contreras said he hasn’t felt nervous, even as he has come off the bench to pinch hit, start at two different positions (including catcher with three different starting pitchers), and hit against two All-Star starters.

“It’s because I have confidence in myself,” said Contreras, who already has almost as many home runs (three) as Jason Heyward (four) and more RBIs (eight) than Tommy La Stella (seven). “I know what I can do and what I can’t do. I just try to have fun.”

There’s been “a lot” of that. “Every second, every minute I’ve been out there,” he said, “I’ve been enjoying my time and enjoying the baseball.”

And the Cubs have needed every second and every minute of it. Rizzo might be back in the lineup Saturday – but Maddon refrained from talking with confidence about it. Zobrist, he said, likely will be on the bench, even though an x-ray showed no break.

“He looks like a big-league hitter, a very established big-league hitter,” said Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks, who allowed only one hit in five innings – albeit, a first-inning grand slam to Justin Bour. “To be that young and come up right away and do it, it’s unbelievable. And we need it right now. We’ve got a lot of guys banged up, so these young guys stepping up is huge.”

Especially when your week has looked a lot like the way a 4-0 lead in the first turned into a 4-4 tie by the second – without an earned run crossing the plate for the Marlins.

Addison Russell’s fielding error leading off the inning and back-to-back two-out walks set the stage for Bour.

Bour? He’s the first baseman drafted by the Cubs in 2009 (25^th round), left unprotected in 2013 and drafted by the Marlins from the Cubs’ system in the Rule 5 draft.

That kind of week.

“It’s not been easy on anybody,” Zobrist said. “But it was a good game tonight. And you need everybody on the roster at this point.”

And Contreras – who took fly balls in left before Friday’s game – will start again Saturday, Maddon said, even though Montero will be catching.

Where?

“We’ll have to get him in there somehow,” Maddon said.

“I’ll be ready, man,” Contreras said. “I’ll be ready.”