CHICAGO — If there ever was a night when the Cubs needed Colin Rea to eat up some innings, Monday was it.

The bullpen was spread thin over the weekend in New York, so manager Craig Counsell needed an efficient day from his starter.

Rea delivered, like he so often has this season.

The Cubs’ 5-2 win over the Miami Marlins was Rea’s third of the season, and it was his longest outing this year at 6 2/3 innings and 98 pitches. He now holds a 2.96 ERA since taking Justin Steele’s place in the rotation, and he has a 2.48 ERA overall.

“When you lose a couple of your best starters for a while, length is something that you can lose as well,” Counsell said of Steele and Shota Imanaga dropping out of the Cubs’ rotation for the time being. “A night like tonight resets your bullpen a little bit, and we got a really good effort (from Rea) getting into the seventh inning.”

Rea had held the Marlins scoreless until there were two outs in the seventh. Two missed fastballs in the zone allowed the Marlins to scrape two runs from Rea, on Derek Hill’s homer.

Rea didn’t get his seven shutout innings, but he did get all of Wrigley Field on its feet as he walked off the mound and gave way to reliever Daniel Palencia.

“It feels good, but I was definitely a little frustrated with the way it ended,” Rea said of his performance. “But that big fifth inning by us to get those five runs helps, and then the bullpen came in and shut it down.”

True to his typical stoicism, Rea wasn’t completely satisfied with how his night ended. But Counsell loves to have someone as relaxed as Rea in his rotation.

“It doesn’t feel flashy and it doesn’t feel overpowering,” Counsell said. “He’s good at his craft — he knows how to navigate an inning and how his stuff plays against everybody. He’s very self-aware.”

The game was a cut-and-dry pitcher’s duel until Dansby Swanson and Seiya Suzuki’s home runs in the fifth broke it wide open. The five-run frame was all the Cubs needed to give Rea the win.

“(Rea) has been huge for us,” Swanson told reporters in the clubhouse. “He’s able to get through the lineup multiple times in different ways, and that keeps us in the game, especially on a day like today.”

Swanson expressed similar sentiments in his postgame interview with Marquee Sports Network’s Taylor McGregor.

Rea’s excellent outing meant the Cubs only required Palencia and Drew Pomeranz, the latter of whom notched his first save since 2020, to close out the game.

“He just consistently threw up zeros and allowed us to come in and finally score some runs,” Swanson said. “He’s been great, and I’m really, really glad that we have him.