MIAMI — When Porter Hodge initially felt something in his left oblique before Friday’s game, the Chicago Cubs’ reliever didn’t think much of it.
Hodge let the trainers know and kept going through his typical routine. However, he couldn’t ignore how his oblique became inflamed and didn’t get better after pitching the ninth inning Saturday against the White Sox. The Cubs put Hodge on the 15-day injured list Tuesday and recalled right-hander Ethan Roberts from Triple-A Iowa.
Manager Craig Counsell is hopeful that Hodge’s IL situation will be similar to Ian Happ’s timeline with his oblique injury. Happ was activated before Tuesday’s game, spending the minimum time on the IL. The Cubs optioned catcher/designated hitter Moisés Ballesteros to Iowa.
Hodge expects to throw on Wednesday to see how he feels. It is his first time dealing with this type of injury.
“It’ll definitely be different, I haven’t done it in a while, especially on a big-league team,” Hodge said of watching the games from the dugout. “So it’ll be important me, like picking guys’ ears, asking their opinions, ask a little bit more about the game. A lot of downtime, take advantage of it.”
Hodge has been one of Counsell’s go-to options in high-leverage spots and would be used in save chances. Although he has a 5.12 ERA this year, Hodge’s 11 earned runs have come in just four of his 21 appearances.
“We’re not overly concerned, he obviously pitched with some symptoms … pitched well with the symptoms,” Counsell said. “Ian’s situation kind of resolved itself, maybe four days or five days after we put him on the injured list. So we’ll see how the next week goes and how the weekend goes in Cincinnati, and then have a better idea.”
The Cubs are dealing with a tired bullpen, and reliever availability will be an issue the next couple of days, Counsell said, and those who are available will potentially be used in different spots.
“The injuries change it, performance changes it, and you have to be willing to be flexible with it and change as it goes,” Counsell said.
Injuries are a natural part of navigating the 162-game season, particularly on the pitching side. The Cubs have been helped by the emergence of left-hander Drew Pomeranz and right-hander Brad Keller. Right-hander Daniel Palencia’s improved consistency has helped stabilize the back-end of the bullpen while veteran Ryan Pressly has worked in lower-leverage spots to work on getting more whiffs and elevating his fastball. Left-hander Caleb Thielbar navigated early-season shakiness to provide the steadiness they needed. He hasn’t walked a hitter in his last 10 outings, surrendering just one run and striking out 10 in that span (9 2/3 innings).
Pomeranz, who hasn’t allowed a run in 10 1/3 innings this year, has given the Cubs an unexpected boost as he pitches in the majors for the first time since 2021 in San Diego. Keller’s 20 appearances are already his most in a big-league season dating to 2022 with Kansas City, where the majority of his outings came as a starter.
The Cubs need more of those types of performances to emerge in the coming months as they continue to navigate injury and performance-related issues on the pitching staff. As president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer bluntly put it Tuesday, they’ve had to be able to weather the pitching injuries early.
“There’s no way around it,” Hoyer said. “It felt like we were in a pretty good routine with those guys in the back there with Porter and Keller, Palencia, the two lefties, like, that group was going really well, and Porter’s out, and we have to step up for that. Knock on wood, hopefully this is relatively short, but you never know.”
