CHICAGO -- In the wake of closer Craig Kimbrel's three-strikeout save against the Padres on Tuesday night, Cubs catcher Willson Contreras offered this assessment of the veteran stopper.

"I think this is the best stuff that he's had with us," Contreras said. "Right now, he's unhittable, to be honest."

Cubs manager David Ross did not argue that evaluation.

"Willson's got the best view in the house, right?" Ross said on Wednesday morning.

Kimbrel has been one of baseball's elite late-inning arms all season, but the closer found another level in Tuesday's 4-3 win. His average fastball velocity (98.3 mph) was a season high and all five swings Kimbrel enticed resulted in a swing and miss (four via the curve and one on a fastball).

In the ninth inning, Kimbrel struck out Wil Myers, Tucupita Marcano and Victor Caratini in order to seal Chicago's win.

"I went back and watched the Myers at-bat last night," Ross said. "Breaking ball on the black with the ugly swing. Another breaking ball with a check swing. And then 99 -- painted the heater away. I mean, I don't know who could've hit that stuff."

Through 23 outings this season, Kimbrel has posted a 0.78 ERA with 39 strikeouts against eight walks in 23 innings, picking up 13 saves along the way. His 44.3 percent strikeout rate is fourth among MLB relievers, while his 1.3 WAR (per Fangraphs) was tied for first with Boston's Matt Barnes and Milwaukee's Josh Hader, entering Wednesday.

Dating back to Aug. 14 of last season, Kimbrel has a 1.01 ERA with 65 strikeouts and 15 walks in 35 2/3 innings. His 47.4 percent K-rate in that time period ranked second among qualified MLB relievers going into Wednesday's game.

"He definitely was electric [Tuesday] night," Ross said. "Craig's in a really good place, for sure."

Ross joins "special" Lou Gehrig Day celebration
During his pregame Zoom chat with reporters, Ross donned a "4-ALS" shirt as part of MLB's Lou Gehrig Day. The manager wanted to do his part in helping raise awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- a cause close to Cubs broadcaster Jon "Boog" Sciambi's heart.

"It's special," Ross said. "The fact that MLB's bringing awareness to it, and you've got such an iconic figure in Lou Gehrig, who is the face of that. I think just, when we can bring awareness to these things and raise money and help out these afflictions that take over peoples' bodies, I think it's always a great thing."

Sciambi helped form the Project Main St. foundation with a childhood friend, Tim Sheehy, who lost a battle with ALS in 2007. The Cubs and Sciambi are working together on multiple fronts to help generate funds to help those dealing with ALS.

"I would love our charity to go away," Sciambi said, "because that would mean we cured the disease. In the meantime, I'm passionate about the fact that you've got to raise money, and it's got to be in both spaces. There's got to be money for research, but we can't leave behind the people that are living with the disease."

Tepera named NL's Reliever of the Month
Setup man Ryan Tepera finished May with 1.42 Win Probability Added and 1.1 WAR (per Fangraphs), pacing all qualified MLB relievers in those categories. For his work, the right-hander was named the National League's Reliever of the Month.

"Tep's done a really nice job of filling a bunch of roles for us," Ross said. "That's a great accomplishment -- a great accolade for him to get. A lot of innings and a lot of traffic that he worked through to get us to the spot we're in right now."

In 14 appearances in May, Tepera posted a 0.61 ERA with 19 strikeouts, no walks and only three hits yielded in 14 2/3 innings.

Down on the farm
• Both outfielder Brennen Davis (No. 2 on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Cubs prospects list) and infielder Chase Strumpf (No. 9) made their Double-A debuts on Tuesday. Strumpf went 2-for-4 with a homer, while Davis drew a walk and scored one run.

• Righty Trevor Megill struck out two in 1 1/3 innings for Triple-A Iowa on Tuesday in his final rehab outing from a right forearm strain. On Wednesday, Megill was activated from the 10-day IL and optioned to Iowa.

Quotable
"Looking at the itinerary today and seeing a four-and-a-half-hour flight, I was like, 'Is there a misprint here?' Because we hadn't seen that in over a year and a half. Me and Rossy were laughing about that." -- Cubs hitting coach Anthony Iapoce, on the upcoming trip to San Francisco