BALTIMORE — Just as the Chicago Cubs are starting to roll in their best stretch since April, they will be without one of their best hitters during the important lead-up to the July 30 trade deadline.
The Cubs (44-49) entered Thursday as winners in five of their last six games and looking to sweep the Baltimore Orioles. They must try to climb the National League wild-card standings without Cody Bellinger after placing him on the 10-day injured list Thursday with a fracture in his left middle finger and recalling outfielder Alexander Canario from Triple-A Iowa.
Bellinger suffered the injury during his at-bat in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s 4-0 win against the Orioles. Lefty reliever Cionel Pérez uncorked a 97-mph sinker that hit Bellinger’s left middle finger. Bellinger initially stayed in but was replaced in right field by Miles Mastrobuoni before the bottom half of the inning. Bellinger didn’t trust he could make a throw if needed after gripping a baseball in the dugout between half-innings.
Bellinger’s finger was sore and swollen postgame, though he was encouraged by its range of motion. But he didn’t want to be too optimistic before getting a CT scan and learning the results.
With the impending four-day All-Star break, Bellinger could return as soon as July 21 and miss only seven games. But it’s another painful break for the Cubs to lose a key presence in the lineup: Bellinger owns a .290 average, .352 on-base percentage and .359 slugging percentage in his last 34 games.
