After birth of son, Cubs' Steele set to start Wednesday
Justin Steele does not yet have a name for his young son, who was born Monday. And he doesn't plan on soliciting teammates for suggestions.
But Steele is ready to return to the mound and will start Wednesday's game against Baltimore after a brief stay on the paternity list.
"We were sharing hospital sleep stories," Cubs manager David Ross said. "You see the smile on his face, he's super pumped. I called him dad when I first saw him. I think all that stuff takes you back to memories of your own kids, especially in-season births and things like that. So happy for him and his wife."
Steele did not travel with the Cubs to Los Angeles. He said after passing the due date, they decided to induce birth late Sunday, so at least he'd be around for the next week with the homestand and all-star break.
"I remember I was in Atlanta and went home for an off-day to Tallahassee and my wife went into labor," Ross said. "I called Bobby Cox and let him know and (he said) 'Congratulations, see you tomorrow.' That's kind of how it works. There's no real breaks, it's time to get back at it and happy everybody's healthy and in a good place."
Steele's last two starts have been very good, with 2 runs allowed over 11-plus innings. As a corresponding move, the Cubs sent pitcher Anderson Espinoza to Triple A Iowa.
Light improvement:
The Cubs have been on an interesting run lately. After winning four series in a row, they were competitive in Los Angeles over the weekend, but squandered a lead three days in a row and were swept in four games.
"We've played really good baseball and we've gotten better. So boom, that's a positive," manager David Ross said. "We didn't come away with wins in LA and didn't play our best baseball in certain areas and found a way not to win games against the best team in the National League.
"That's the bar, you see what it takes to get there, you see the atmosphere you have to go through to be a championship-caliber team and a team with World Series expectations."
Cubs notes:
It was a nice day for home runs in the Cubs minor leagues. Frank Schwindel homered during his rehab assignment with Iowa in the fourth inning against Buffalo. Alexander Canario belted his 12th homer of the season for Double A Tennessee.
Pete Crow-Armstrong led off the game with a home run as Class A South Bend opened a series in Peoria. In the same game, left-hander Jordan Wicks, last year's first-round draft pick, had a nice start with 10 strikeouts and 1 hit allowed in 5 innings.
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