Chatwood takes turn for worse, goes on injured list
The Cubs were desperately seeking a starter for Monday's second game against St. Louis after Tyler Chatwood had a recurrence of his mid-back soreness on Sunday morning.
Chatwood was placed on the injured list and by the end of Sunday's 6-5 loss to Milwaukee, manager David Ross had not named a starter. Kyle Hendricks will pitch Game 1 at Wrigley Field.
"His back flared back up on him," is all Ross would say about Chatwood's injury.
Chatwood was scratched from his scheduled start on Friday due to the back problem. He felt better the next day and the Cubs thought he was good to go, but Sunday brought a setback.
With Chatwood going on the injured list, the Cubs brought up right-hander Jason Adam from South Bend. Adam, who pitched for Toronto last season and Kansas City in 2018, made his Cubs debut in the seventh inning and was tagged with the loss. Orlando Arcia tripled to center field, then scored on Ryan Braun's single, accounting for Milwaukee's winning run.
The Cubs' options for Monday seem to be bringing up a starter from South Bend, like Adbert Alzolay, or just making it a bullpen game.
Kimbrel continues upswing:
Craig Kimbrel had another solid outing Sunday. He retired the side in order in the eighth inning with two strikeouts. Both the whiffs were called strike threes, with batters frozen by both the fastball and curve.
Kimbrel tossed a scoreless inning with 2 strikeouts on Friday as well. So the Cubs hope Kimbrel has found his groove after starting the season with 7 earned runs in his first 2⅔ innings.
"You want your guys to have confidence. You never want them to struggle," Jon Lester said Sunday. "That was awesome to see him come out there and do that inning like he did today."
Prior to joining the Cubs last season, Kimbrel was one of the most successful closers of this century. He's a seven-time all-star, World Series champ and led the NL in saves four years in a row from 2011-14 with Atlanta.
Manager David Ross declined to say whether he feels ready to put Kimbrel into a save situation.
Baez gets break:
Manager David Ross gave shortstop Javy Baez a rare break from the starting lineup, using Nico Hoerner instead. Baez did pinch hit in the ninth inning and appeared to have an infield single, thanks to some tricky baserunning, but the call was overturned by replay.
"He's been a little bit under the weather with some sinus stuff he had going on," Ross said of Baez. "I've pushed him really hard as I have a lot of these guys. Him and Rizz (Anthony Rizzo) in particular, and Willson (Contreras). Getting him off his feet and getting him kind of a mental reset and getting him ready for the games we have to come I just felt was good for him and our team."
Right fielder Jason Heyward was scratched from Sunday's lineup with a sore back.