A soft part in the Cubs’ schedule continues this weekend as they face off against the White Sox, who own the worst record in the American League. Cade Horton will make his first MLB start Friday as the City Series opens.
The Cubs then hit the road for a six-game road series in Miami and Cincinnati before returning home to play MLB’s worst, the Colorado Rockies, and another three-game set versus the Reds.
The City Series begins a stretch of nine games in town for the Sox. After the three contests at Wrigley Field, the Sox have a six-game homestand with three against the Seattle Mariners and three against the Texas Rangers.
Every Thursday during the regular season, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Cubs and White Sox.
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Ian Happ is hopeful he won’t be on the IL long
Ian Happ knew Monday that a stint on the injured list had become unavoidable.
The Cubs’ left fielder attempted to go through a full day of pregame work, including hitting and throwing, but his left oblique strain didn’t feel quite right. The lack of progress from when he initially sustained the injury Friday on a swing in his first at-bat led the Cubs to put him on the 10-day IL Tuesday, retroactive to Saturday.
“It made sense to not play for the next couple of days and see if we could get to a place where it was playable and not something that was going to get worse,” Happ said Wednesday. “‘It didn’t feel like it was something that you could play through and so ultimately we made a decision that made the most sense.”
Happ’s oblique bothered him the most when attempting to swing. He felt he couldn’t use his typical swing movement, so for now, Happ won’t take any reps in the cage the next few days to become fully asymptomatic. He plans to keep running and throwing as long as he doesn’t experience any discomfort to make sure he stays in game shape.
“The ultimate test is hitting and check swings, and it’s hard to simulate game speed,” Happ said. “So we’ll know more once we start doing that, but just trying to do everything right so that we can get to that point and in a place where I’m not worried about going out and swinging.”
Happ’s move to the IL created a pathway for the Cubs to bring up prospect Moisés Ballesteros, with Seiya Suzuki’s shift to left field opening regular at-bats as the designated hitter, though he didn’t get the start Wednesday with a lefty on the mound for Miami.
“We have confidence in the group that there’s the ability for us to shuffle around and still be really effective,” Happ said. “I’m doing everything I can to be out there and supporting these guys and helping any way that I can, filling up waters or whatever that is. Just trying to get myself right so I can get back.”
Assistant GM Josh Barfield notices a better quality of baseball from the Sox
Assistant general manager Josh Barfield is seeing some progress with the Sox.
“The quality of the baseball has been a lot better this year,” Barfield said Tuesday at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. “We’ve been in a lot of games, trying to find ways to win, and we’ve done a better job of late trying to close out those games.”
The Sox found the right path Tuesday, scoring four runs in the 10th inning to beat the Reds 5-1.
Before the game, Barfield provided takeaways from the early portion of the season.
He said the starting pitchers have “really done a nice job of keeping us in games,” pointing to Shane Smith as an example.
“It’s not easy, and you see a lot of (Rule 5 draft) guys end up getting returned early in the year because of the struggles, and (Smith and reliever Mike Vasil) have been two of our most consistent contributors,” Barfield said.
From an offensive standpoint, Barfield highlighted the contributions of infielder Chase Meidroth, first baseman/DH Tim Elko and catcher Edgar Quero since being called up from Triple A. Elko hit a go-ahead three-run home run in Sunday’s win against the Miami Marlins. Quero had three hits and Meidroth drove in the go-ahead run with a single during Tuesday’s 10-inning victory against the Reds.
“It’s been great to see,” Barfield said. “That’s what you hope for when these young guys in the minor leagues come up and you hope they carry that success onto the big leagues. You look at the Chases, the Qs and Timmy, like, they all have the ability to control the zone, right? I call them survival skills — they can survive up here, even when they might not be swinging it the best.
“So guys like that, you feel like they’re going to have pretty good success up here. And fortunately, they’ve come up here and made an impact right away.”
Number of the week: 19
Sox designated hitter Tim Elko became the 19th player in franchise history to homer for his first career hit with the three-run blast in the sixth inning Sunday against the Marlins.
Week ahead: Cubs
- Thursday: off
- Friday vs. White Sox, 1:20 p.m., Marquee
- Saturday vs. White Sox, 1:20 p.m., Marquee
- Sunday: vs. White Sox, 1:20 p.m., Marquee
- Monday: at Marlins, 5:40 p.m., Marquee
- Tuesday: at Marlins, 5:40 p.m., Marquee
- Wednesday: at Marlins, 12:10 p.m., Marquee
Julian Merryweather has been one of manager Craig Counsell’s go-to arms out of the bullpen when high-leverage situations arise in the late innings.
He hasn’t been the typically effective version in his last few outings, including during the seventh inning on Tuesday against the Miami Marlins. Merryweather exited after retiring only two of the seven batters he faced and allowing two runs that put Miami ahead, pulled with the bases loaded. Merryweather has allowed two runs, multiple hits and at least one walk in three of his last four appearances.
Given how the inning started for Merryweather, Counsell said he found the outing a bit puzzling with the way it played out for the right-hander.
“I think it’s a little puzzling for the player as well,” Counsell said. “It wasn’t a long kind of pitch appearance in terms of number of pitches. But, look, fastball velocity is important for every pitcher. We know that. Every pitcher is trying to get more velocity when they can, so it plays into it, and something that we absolutely have to keep an eye on.”
Merryweather’s fastball velocity on Tuesday was 1.2 mph lower than his season average, sitting at 94.8 mph while dropping as low as 92.9 mph. The Cubs need that to be a blip and see that fastball velocity get back to a range that gives Merryweather a better margin for error.
Week ahead: White Sox
- Thursday: at Reds, 11:40 a.m., CHSN
- Friday: at Cubs, 1:20 p.m., CHSN, Marquee
- Saturday: at Cubs, 1:20 p.m., CHSN, Marquee
- Sunday: at Cubs, 1:20 p.m., CHSN, Marquee
- Monday: vs. Mariners, 6:40 p.m., CSHN
- Tuesday: vs. Mariners, 6:40 p.m., CHSN
- Wednesday: vs. Mariners, 1:10 p.m., CHSN
Friday’s scheduled starter Shane Smith entered Wednesday tied for seventh in the American League with a 2.08 ERA.
“I think the consistency has been nice,” Smith said of his season to date following the most recent start Saturday against the Marlins. “Stacking outings. One outing to two to five to 10, that’s how you build a good foundation and then you go from there.”
Smith allowed four hits and matched a career high with seven strikeouts while tossing six scoreless innings against the Marlins.
He has pitched at least five innings in seven of his eight starts and has allowed three runs or fewer in all eight.
“You want to, as a starting pitcher, your job is to go as long as you can,” Smith said. “I want to make the job easier for the guys around me, and I think going six does that.”
What we’re reading this morning
- ‘He’s always been a hitter’: Chicago Cubs call up Moisés Ballesteros for MLB debut with Ian Happ on injured list
- Column: ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson’s saga is an essential part of baseball history — and could finally come to an end
- Chicago Cubs’ Dansby Swanson on wife Mallory expecting their 1st child: ‘Amazing part of our journey together’
- 3-run home run by Tim Elko lifts the Chicago White Sox to 4-2 victory — and a series win: ‘Great moment for him’
- Column: White Sox embracing their newest superfan, Pope Leo XIV — while trolling the Cubs
- How a changeup to slugger Juan Soto helped define Cade Horton’s solid MLB debut in the Chicago Cubs’ 6-5 win
Quotable
“It makes it fun to begin with at the start of the game and throughout the game, it’s just fun. And then it allows for, I think, the moments to be just bigger. They feel bigger when the stadium is full. I think we all feel that. So we’re very fortunate in that regard.” — Counsell on the advantages of playing in front of a full crowd at Wrigley Field even on weeknights early in the season.
