This kind of sucks, but also bittersweet. We all knew that the Chicago Cubs were going to remove a relief pitcher from their bullpen on Saturday to make room for starter Caleb Kilian. The feeling was that it was going to be young righty Jeremiah Estrada, while the hope was that the Cubs would be done with the Julian Merryweather experiment. Well, Estrada is staying, which is good, but Merryweather is too, meh. It turns out that left-handed pitcher Brandon Hughes still isn’t over his knee issue and he’s the one heading out.
The Cubs announced that Hughes is going on the 15-day injured list. The start date is retroactive to April 27.
Hughes, 27, was not on the team’s Opening Day roster, as the left-handed reliever began the regular season on the injured list, still ramping up in Arizona after he was shut down in the middle of March because of the knee inflammation. The Cubs activated Hughes from the injured list on April 15.
The Cubs have mostly operated without a left-handed pitcher in their bullpen, so it’s not like being without Hughes is a sudden jolt to their system. However, Hughes was good in 2022 and had been pitching well the past two weeks. Hughes made five appearances and only gave up two runs in 5.2 innings, striking out nine batters, while walking two. He last pitched in the middle game of the San Diego Padres series.
So, the Cubs will continue to rely on right-handed pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. to come in and get left-handed batters out. The 32-year-old has struck out 13 of the 33 left-handed batters that he’s faced so far this season. Overall, Leiter Jr. has a 1.69 ERA in 10.2 innings so far in 12 relief appearances with the Cubs.
It is good to see Caleb Kilian getting another shot with the Cubs. The right-handed starting pitcher made his MLB debut last season, but his first stint in the majors only lasted three starts. Kilian’s control completely disappeared and a knee issue didn’t help matters either
In 2023, Kilian has made three starts with the Iowa Cubs in Triple-A. His season debut was a disaster, but the right-hander was much better in his last two starts.
Caleb Kilian’s Last 2 Starts
4 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 K, 3 BB
5 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 4 K, 0 BB
The Cubs had an annoying 3-2 loss in their series opener against the Miami Marlins Friday night. They didn’t do much against left-hander Jesús Luzardo and the offense couldn’t come through in the few chances they did have.
Here is Saturday’s lineup behind Caleb Kilian.
2B Hoerner
SS Swanson
LF Happ
RF Suzuki
CF Bellinger
1B Mancini
DH Hosmer
3B Wisdom
C Barnhart
Hmmm, I know that Eric Hosmer is a lefty and the Marlins have right-hander Edward Cabrera starting, but Nelson Velázquez has been on fire.
Anyway, the game starts at 3 p.m. CST and it’s going to be on Fox. If you don’t like listening to the national broadcast, come join some fellow Cubs fans and watch along.
