Maddon tries to finess overworked bullpen

Cubs manager Joe Maddon knows that sometimes you have to lose the battle to fight another day over the long haul.

The Cubs were working Saturday with a depleted bullpen. Several pitchers were unavailable, but they managed to gut out a 4-1 victory over the Pirates.

Maddon used erstwhile starting pitcher Travis Wood as his closer, and Wood worked a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his first career save.

Closer Hector Rondon had pitched the previous three days, and he was warming up in the ninth.

"You're always having to be willing to suck up a loss sometimes in order to fight another day," Maddon said Sunday. "You have to be smart about it. Rondon would have been pressed to pitch a normal three-out inning. My thought there was at least get an out or two before we had to use him.

"Once Travis got the first two outs, (Neil) Walker was going to be his last hitter. Hector would have had the next guy, (Andrew) McCutchen. You've got to be careful, man. These guys, you can't beat them up."

The Cubs bullpen had worked 11 innings between Thursday and Friday.

"Our bullpen was in very good shape a couple days ago," Maddon said. "Then we weren't in such good shape. Guys were going multiple innings, throwing too many pitches. That's the thing about bullpens. You can go from being OK or really good to not so good in a couple days just based on game situations."

Setback for La Stella:

The Cubs had hoped to activate infielder Tommy La Stella off the disabled list this week, but he suffered a setback Sunday in his rehab assignment at Class AA Tennessee. La Stella, who has been on the disabled list since April 9 with right-rib-cage inflammation, apparently tweaked his side during the first game of Tennessee's doubleheader Sunday. He will return to Chicago Monday to be re-evaluated.

With La Stella unable to go, the Cubs likely will recall outfielder Junior Lake from Class AAA Iowa.

There had been chatter that the Cubs might recall infielder Javier Baez from Iowa, but that does not appear to be happening. Baez had a rough spring training. He then took a leave of absence to mourn the death of his sister. The Cubs are inclined to let Baez get into and stay in a nice groove at Iowa, where he is hitting well. Baez left Sunday's game early, but he was hit by a pitch.

New role for Wood:

Travis Wood did not get the ball from his first save. The final out of Saturday's game was a flyout to center fielder Dexter Fowler, who threw the ball into the stands.

"It's just a ball," Wood said. "I can grab any dirty ball and write on it."

Although Wood was disappointed at losing his rotation spot, he was sounding like a team guy Sunday.

"I'm going to do everything I can to pitch the best I can out of there," he said of the bullpen. "It's going to be no different pitching-wise. Maybe it allows me to iron some things out and throw good ball.

"On a personal level maybe a little bit (disappointing), but as long as I'm here and can help the team win ... we're playing great baseball right now."