Back spasms force Rizzo to come out
Anthony Rizzo is one of the best defensive first basemen in the National League, so when he came out of Saturday's game in the eighth inning, Cubs fans had to be wondering.
It turns out Rizzo was suffering from back spasms.
"I've had it before," he said. "It just kind of started barking on me in the fifth or sixth (inning). Once we took that 4-run lead there (in the seventh), we played with more caution."
Rizzo said he hopes to play Sunday, and if not then, by Monday. He was 0-for-2 with a pair of walks in Saturday's 8-4 victory over the Reds. For the season so far, he's 20-for-60 (.333) with 2 homers and 8 RBI.
MIke Olt replaced Rizzo at first, moving from third base.
Arrieta headed for Daytona:
Change could be coming late next week to the Cubs' starting rotation. Right-hander Jake Arrieta will head to Class A Daytona on Monday for another rehab start, which could be his last.
Arrieta went to spring training with discomfort in his pitching shoulder. His last rehab start, at Class AA Tennessee, was a good one. Originally, the Cubs indicated Arrieta would go to Class AAA Iowa for his next rehab start, but they prefer him in the warm weather in Florida.
"Get out there and get up to 100 pitches, kind of fine-tune and refine some things," he said. "Hopefully, that will be the last stop."
It's 1-2-3 and out:
Edwin Jackson started Saturday's victory and worked 5⅔ innings, throwing 89 pitches. He had one unusual inning. In the third, he gave up a bunt single to Billy Hamilton before getting Joey Votto to ground into a double play and retiring Brandon Phillips on a comeback groundball.
The inning took only 3 pitches.
"It definitely doesn't hurt," he said.
Before Saturday, the most recent Cubs pitcher to throw 3 pitches in an inning and record 3 outs was Randy Wells on Sept. 25, 2011 against St. Louis. STATS, Inc. provided the research.
This and that:
Leadoff man Emilio Bonifacio went 3-for-5 with 2 runs and his eighth stolen base of the season. He's batting .358 (24-for-67). He leads the Cubs with seven multihit games … Starlin Castro has hit safely in all eight home games.