Apparently, the Chicago Cubs’ lucky number on their just-completed road trip was 13.
That’s the number of different relievers that manager Craig Counsell used to get through seven games over the last six days as his team swept four games from the New York Mets and took two of three over Milwaukee, including a 4-3, 10-inning decision on Sunday.
Chicago will try to keep things going in the right direction on Monday night when it opens a three-game series against the visiting San Diego Padres.
“The guys are having fun right now and we’re playing good baseball,” Counsell said. “We got enough done because we got great pitching performances today. Today was the day the pitching carried the load.”
Bryse Wilson was one of the unexpected heroes, logging 4 1/3 scoreless innings as the bulk reliever after Ryan Rolison opened with two innings against the Brewers. Jordan Wicks, the lucky 13th reliever, induced a game-ending double-play ball from Gary Sanchez with the bases loaded.
It capped a week where Chicago overcame consecutive rainouts that taxed its rotation and another wave of pitching injuries that forced it into the kind of desperate measures that Counsell used to get his team into the win column.
The Cubs presently have 12 pitchers on the injured list, including an entire starting rotation.
“We don’t have that big of a stockpile,” he said. “I don’t think anybody does. So we’re going to have to get through it. We’ll keep looking for guys that can do the job.”
Chicago will hope for length from Shota Imanaga (5-6, 4.40 ERA) in the series opener. He last pitched on Wednesday, earning a 10-5 win at the Mets in the nightcap of a day-night doubleheader.
Imanaga lasted 5 1/3 innings, yielding four hits and four runs with a walk and four strikeouts.
He has shut down San Diego in three previous outings, going 1-0 with a 1.40 ERA.
The Padres did not announce a starter late Sunday night but could go with right-hander Griffin Canning (1-5, 7.38), who might need a good outing to earn his next turn in the rotation. Canning couldn’t survive the second inning of Tuesday’s 7-6, 10-inning win over Atlanta, allowing four hits and four runs while recording only two outs in his lone inning.
He’s 0-1 with a 4.35 ERA in two career starts against the Cubs.
San Diego is coming off a 4-2 loss Sunday to the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers in the rubber game of its weekend series. The Padres won four straight to start their homestand, including a three-game sweep of Atlanta, before Los Angeles outscored them 19-5 in the last two games.
Short starts have been a theme of San Diego’s season. Twenty-four of its wins have come after the starter has worked five or fewer innings.
“It definitely puts our bullpen in a tough spot because we can’t use them in the correct lengths,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “They have to be able to get us at least five (innings) or we’ve got to figure out a different way to do it.”
If Canning can’t turn things around, he could be out of the rotation. Right-handers Jhony Brito and German Marquez are just about finished with rehab assignments at Triple-A El Paso.
–Field Level Media
