CINCINNATI — Standing at his locker inside Great American Ball Park’s visiting clubhouse late Saturday night, Chicago Cubs pitcher Trent Thornton shrugged, shook his head and paused midthought.This is how it usually works in baseball: Relievers draw the most attention when they don’t do their job. The clean innings go by unnoticed. Win or lose, reporters talk to the starting pitcher after the game. At least one position player speaks on the state of the team.Thornton had thrown only three pitches, but he notched the final out in a 5-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. With two runners on base, the right-handed reliever got All-Star Sal Stewart to hit a soft groundball up the middle. Thornton stomped around the mound, flexing and screaming in celebration.By the time the media entered the postgame clubhouse, Thornton was still cooling off. Whether it was the Ohio humidity or the heat of competition or the TV camera in his face, he reached toward his eyes to make an adjustment.Which teams fared well during MLB Draft Day 1?Keith Law“My glasses are fogging up,” Thornton said, taking off the specs and then putting them back on. “Sorry.”That moment sums up the nondescript way the Cubs assembled their bullpen, and the businesslike manner in which the club executes its game plans. The guy in a hat and glasses — who signed a minor-league deal in January to complete his comeback from a torn left Achilles tendon under the Cubs’ supervision — now has three saves, two wins in the ninth or 10th innings, and a 2.48 ERA.Over in the manager’s office, minutes earlier, Craig Counsell laughed when a reporter mentioned Thornton’s good run, considering that he’s not even the closer.“I’m not sure if you saw this,” Counsell said, “we don’t have a closer.”Acquiring one is on the to-do list for Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and general manager Carter Hawkins as they pivot from Sunday’s conclusion of the 2026 MLB Draft and focus on the Aug. 3 trade deadline.As the Cubs scattered for the All-Star break after Sunday afternoon’s 8-4 win over the Reds, they had proved their resiliency and viability as a playoff contender. Amid a parade of pitchers breaking down, an offensive roller coaster and the whiplash from two 10-game winning streaks and a 10-game losing streak, the Cubs are 54-42 with a leading position in the National League’s wild-card race.“I’m just proud of how hard it was for us,” All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said, “and how much adversity was kind of thrown our way when we thought we were about to click and start rolling. For how beat up we were — and for how many guys have kind of cycled through here, come back up, sent back down, come back up — it’s just a freaking team effort.”