Whether it’s Kyle Farnsworth kicking an electric fan and hurting his knee or Sammy Sosa throwing his back out with a sneeze, the Cubs have a history of freak injuries.
Reliever Colten Brewer added himself to that list.
Before Sunday’s game with the Angels, the Cubs placed Brewer on the 60-day injured list with a broken left hand. In a corresponding move, the Cubs selected Hunter Bigge from Triple-A Iowa.
Brewer broke his left hand in the third inning of Saturday’s game, but not on the field. The righty was charged with one earned run and allowed three total, partly because of his throwing error on what looked like a double play. Then after being removed by manager Craig Counsell, a frustrated Brewer punched the back wall of the Cubs dugout a couple times.
As Brewer found out, that wall doesn’t give.
“My intention wasn’t to break my hand,” said Brewer, who was wearing a cast on his left arm when addressing the media. “I’ll get frustrated and make mistakes. That’s no excuse. There’s a lot I can prove out there, that I’m willing not to do stuff like that. Emotions get the best of us sometimes.”
A day later, Brewer was thinking about how he let down his family, friends, teammates and Cubs fans.
“It’s kind of heartbreaking to me right now,” Brewer said. “There’s no pain in it right now; I just can’t believe something like that happened.”
Counsell didn’t have to say much to Brewer about his actions Saturday. The Cubs reliever saw the results.
“When those things happen, you know you screwed up,” Counsell said. “That was the conversation. Then there’s consequences for the mistakes you make. It’s an unfortunate mistake and he let emotions get the best of him. It’s not who he is, but it’s a mistake that he made.
“You have to move forward past that.”
In 20 2/3 innings, Brewer has a 5.66 ERA.
A Harvard product, Bigge is 1-0 with a 0.77 ERA in 11 games with Triple-A Iowa. Bigge impressed in spring training before suffering an oblique injury that delayed his first action of 2024.
On Saturday, Iowa manager Marty Pevey told Bigge he was headed to the Cubs. Bigge couldn’t stop smiling for about 10 minutes. Then he couldn’t stop crying for another 10 minutes.
“I flashed back through a lot of memories of playing in high school, playing in college, getting drafted, going through the ups and downs of pro ball, all the hard work and time that I’ve put in and all the sacrifices my family and I have made,” Bigge said. “It’s been my dream since I was a little kid, so all of those emotions just came out.”
Health and wellness
Counsell had no update on Kyle Hendricks, who left Saturday’s game after two innings with low back tightness. Before the Cubs start him again, Counsell indicated the team needs to be confident Hendricks can give them innings.
“We have to be in a place of very good health next time,” Counsell said.
Per Counsell, Pete Crow-Armstrong (thumb) threw better Sunday than he did Saturday but was not in the lineup.
Mike Tauchman (left groin strain) is joining the Cubs on their upcoming road trip to Baltimore. Tauchman is starting to hit and run but is not yet at full speed, and Counsell hopes he can return “fairly soon” after the All-Star break.
