For Chicago Cubs left-hander Jordan Wicks, subpar command that limits his repertoire is a dangerous combination.
Too many mistakes in the zone Tuesday against the Oakland A’s presented some challenges for Wicks, who gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings during the Cubs’ 4-3 loss. The Cubs (77-74) went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base.
Wicks had been looking to bounce back from a tough outing at Dodger Stadium last week when he was tagged for seven runs, including four first-inning home runs, over three innings.
“Well, overall from the beginning, it was a little bit of a struggle, to be honest,” manager Craig Counsell said of Wicks’ outing. “The misses were just big enough to get him into trouble, and then he obviously got burned on misses in the strike zone, just middle-middle pitches, essentially. And to their credit, they didn’t hit singles with them.
“There’s very few pitchers that can get away with having one pitch working, and somebody like Jordan has to have his repertoire working to be really effective.”
Wicks felt his command Tuesday took a step in the right direction and was better than it has been this month.
“There’s no excuses, though, when you’re at this league and you’re trying to help us win, it’s definitely not ideal missing three months of the season,” Wicks said. “But there’s no time for excuses. You’ve got to go out there and compete.”
Ian Happ’s second solo home run of the game brought the Cubs within a run in the ninth. His opposite-field home run against A’s closer Mason Miller came off a 103.2 mph pitch. It’s the fastest pitch any MLB player has homered on in the Statcast era (since 2015) and gave Happ his 15th career multi-homer game.
“Just try to be on time for fastest, one of the fastest pitches in the game, he’s got good stuff and obviously it’s been great all year,” Happ said. “You’re trying so hard to be on time for that fastball, it makes the other stuff play up.”
Wicks has struggled with his fastball command for stretches since coming off the injured list on Sept. 1. Too often his fastball-changeup go-to combination hasn’t been efficient, and opposing hitters have made him pay. In three starts this month entering Tuesday, Wicks has allowed 11 runs and 17 hits in 13 innings (7.62 ERA) with eight walks and six strikeouts. It would bode well for Wicks to show improvement in his last three starts of the season to end his year on a high note after battling injuries.
Justin Steele to start the series finale
Left-hander Justin Steele and the Cubs had been confident that if his elbow tendinitis resolved as they had hoped, he would be back before the season ended.
Steele’s recovery has set him up to come off the injured list Wednesday and start the series finale versus Oakland. With Steele rejoining the rotation, the Cubs will push the other five starters’ turn back one game. While the Cubs could have opted to shut down Steele for the rest of the season, both sides felt it was valuable to get back into game action, even with the Cubs still sizably outside of the final National League wild-card spot.
Cubs recall Daniel Palencia
The Cubs made a bullpen move before Tuesday’s game, recalling right-hander Daniel Palencia from Triple-A Iowa.
Right-hander Trey Wingenter was optioned to Iowa as the corresponding move. Wingenter had primarily been used by Counsell in low-leverage spots. This represents another opportunity for Palencia to show he can harness the command he’s displayed in Triple A but hasn’t been able to consistently provide at the major-league level.
Palencia tossed two perfect innings Tuesday against the A’s, striking out two while efficiently needing only 16 pitches and throwing 13 strikes.
