Cubs trim roster to 28

Teams were required to bring their active roster down to 28 players today and the Cubs did so by sending both lefties Rex Brothers and Justin Steele to South Bend.

There was a late push by the Players Association to keep the roster at 30 for the season, but instead they agreed that the roster would stick at 28 for the rest of the season instead of dropping to 26 like originally planned.

Steele did not get into a game for the Cubs, but Brothers made only two appearances and was disastrous in the second one giving up two home runs along with two walks and three strikeouts in an inning and a third against the Reds.

The move also leaves Kyle Ryan as the only lefty in the bullpen, which is slightly concerning considering his struggles this year combined with his very noticeable velocity loss.

They will likely return to two lefties once Brad Wieck comes off the injured list, but there is currently no timetable for his return.

Cubs take down Royals

The Cubs beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1 extending their win steak to six and tying the Minnesota Twins for the best record in the MLB at 10-2.

The Royals struck first when they put runners on first and third with nobody out, but Raul Mondesi Jr. would ground into a double play which brought home a lot but also helped limit the damage.

The Cubs would strike back in the next half inning when Kris Bryant singled and Anthony Rizzo walked to set up first and second with nobody out. Javier Baez would follow with a game-tying RBI single, but Willson Contreras would ground into a double play bringing in a run, but also practically eliminating any chance for a bigger inning.

Yu Darvish was excellent once again for the Cubs going seven strong innings giving up just the one run on five hits with four strikeouts while walking just one. He was incredibly efficient tonight throwing 58 of his 93 pitches for strikes.

The Cubs would add on in the eighth when Baez had his second RBI single of the day and Willson Contrereas followed that with an RBI single to make it 4-1.

They would add two more in the ninth when Victor Caratini drove in Ian Happ with an RBI single and Kris Bryant would add an RBI single that scored Caratini from first.

The bullpen was excellent once again today. Jeremy Jeffress threw a clean inning with a strikeout. Colin Rea would make his Cubs debut in the ninth and flashed a 95 MPH fastball along with a cutter with some excellent movement. He would strikeout two batters in his inning of work to close the game out.

The Cubs conclude the series against the Royals tomorrow with Tyler Chatwood taking on Brad Keller in a game that starts at 6:07 tomorrow.

Offense powers Cubs to victory

Kyle Hendricks rebounded after a rough start last week and the Cubs won their fifth game in a row beating the Royals 5-4 and improving their record to an NL-best 9-2.

Hendricks threw seven strong innings giving up two earned runs on seven hits while striking out three and walking none. 

The Royals struck first when Raul Mondesi Jr blooped a hit into left to score Salvador Perez. The Cubs would strike back the next half inning when Jason Heyward followed a Willson Contreras single with a two-run home run off of Brady Singer to give the Cubs the lead.

Jason Kipnis would extend the lead for the Cubs with a two-run home run in the fifth inning that would make the game 4-1. Kipnis has been extremely productive thus far this season. The home run was his fourth extra base hit in 16 plate appearances.

Besides the two home runs Royals rookie righty Brady Singer looked pretty impressive for the Royals. He gave up five hits in total plus two walks but managed to strike out eight over five innings.

Jeremy Jeffress got the eight for the Cubs and was impressive in a 1-2-3 inning. He has yet to allow a run and has been one of the Cubs most reliable relief arms.

Willson Contreras would add some insurance in the eight with a long home run off of former Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal.

Craig Kimbrel would enter in the ninth with a chance to show some growth, but he gave up two hits including a ringing double and was pulled for Kyle Ryan who had never gotten a save before. Ryan would give up a RBI ground out and an RBI single before a great play by Kris Bryant would preserve the 5-4 victory for the Cubs.

Yu Darvish takes the mound in Kansas City against Kris Bubic who is making his second big league start. Bubic allowed two runs over four innings against the Chicago White Sox in his first start.

Cubs walk off on Pirates

The Cubs concluded a three game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates today with a 2-1 11 inning victory.

Jon Lester got off to a rough start giving up a first inning home run to Kevin Newman, but would settle down and end up throwing six solid innings scattering four hits while striking out four.

Steven Brault shut down the Cubs early throwing three perfect innings before being pulled for Chad Kuhl.

Kuhl would be pulled for injury in the fifth but not before allowing back to back doubles to Willson Contreras and Kyle Schwarber to tie the game.

In a nice change of pace the Cubs bullpen was excellent today. Casey Sadler started off by striking out two in his first inning of work. Although he got in trouble in the eighth Dan Winkler would bail him out by striking out Colin Moran on three pitches.

Winkler would get out of a runner on second and one out jam in the second, but the game would be put in an hour and four minute rain delay. The Cubs would do nothing aside from a two out walk sending the game to extras and the first time the Cubs were faced with the free runner rule.

Josh Bell would lead off the tenth with a single and Joey Cora sent the Pirates free runner Jacob Stallings home, but Kyle Schwarber would throw him out at the plate.

The Pirates wouldn't score, and the Cubs would put themselves in great position to win with runners on second and third with one out. The Cubs wasted the chance when Albert Almora Jr. struck out and David Bote popped out.

The Cubs would get the Pirates free runner out again in the eleventh, and in the bottom of the eleventh Anthony Rizzo would fly out advancing David Bote and Javier Baez would send em home with a walk off RBI single.

The Cubs welcome the Royals into town for what is essentially a four game series with two games in each ballpark. Alec Mills will look to follow up a great first start against veteran Royals lefty Danny Duffy in a game that starts at 7:15.

Cubs recall prospect Justin Steele, place James Norwood on IL

The Cubs made a roster move prior to Sundays game bring up lefty pitching prospect Justin Steele and in a corresponding move placed RHP James Norwood on the injured list with some right shoulder inflammation retroactive to Thursday.

Steele, 25, was a fifth round pick of the Cubs in 2014 out of high school. In 2019 he finally made it to Double-A and although he struggled 5.59 ERA in 38.2 innings, his 42 strikeouts suggests there is at least something there. 

Baseball Savant describes Steeles repertoire as "His four-seam fastball sits at 92-95 mph and touches 97 with high spin rates and good life up in the strike zone. He possesses one of the best curveballs in the system, combining power and true downer action when it's on".

Bryan Smith of Bleacher Nation also mentions his hard work to add a "2700-3300 rpm slider" that could potentially be a game changer.

Steele could possibly stake a claim as the Cubs best lefty reliever right now. Rex Brothers was an absolute disaster despite the good stuff, and Kyle Ryan has seen his velocity down significantly and it clearly affected him last night.

Norwood has only thrown an inning and two thirds but has allowed three runs on four hits with a walk and zero strikeouts. Although the results haven't been good, he throws hard enough that he deserves an extended look to see what he can do at the big league level.

Cubs bullpen barely hangs on

The Cubs barely hung on tonight beating the Pirates 4-3 and improving their record to 6-2 and securing a full two game lead over the Brewers.

Tyler Chatwood was absolutely brilliant in his start, he threw six and two thirds shutout innings giving up just three hits while walking two and striking out 11. His fastball was absolutely filthy tonight, and not only was it his best start as a Cubs, but one of the best in his career..

The Cubs got the scoring started when Ian Happ (who filled in at lead off for an ill Kris Bryant) hit a solo shot to center that put the Cubs up 1-0, after Anthony Rizzo flew out, Javier Baez would hit a 448 foot moonshot to extend the lead to 2-0.

In the eighth the Cubs would extend their lead to 4-0 in the eighth inning when Kyle Schwarber hit an opposite field two-run home run and it seemed like the Cubs were gonna cruise to an easy weapon.

After Jeremy Jeffress got out of a bases loaded jam in the seventh created by Chatwood he would pitch a shutdown eight and in came Kyle Ryan to shut things down.

However his velocity seemed to be way down in the mid-80s and after a single and a strikeout to start the inning he would give up a two-run home run to Colin Moran. He was pulled for Rowan Wick, who after giving up an RBI ground out followed by a walk would get Jose Osuna to ground into a fielders choice to end it.

Jon Lester will take the mound at 1:20 tomorrow looking to complete a sweep, Steven Brault will take the mound opposing him.

Darvish rebounds, Cubs beat Pirates

Yu Darvish followed his rough first start with a dominant second outing leading the Cubs to a 6-3 victory and improving to 5-2.

Darvish threw six shutout innings giving up two hits with a walk while striking out seven. His stuff looked as crisp as ever, and his command was sharp too throwing 56 of his 86 pitches for strikes.

The Cubs got the scoring started in the third when Javier Baez bunted with runners on first and second but Pirates starter Trevor Williams threw the ball away allowing Kris Bryant to score. They would add another in the fourth when Jason Kipnis hit a solo home run.

In the fifth inning the Cubs would add two more when Jason Heyward drove in two runners with a two out 0-2 two run single off Nik Turley that would stretch the lead to 4-0.

The Pirates would get on the board in the 8th inning when Gregor Polanco doubled and was eventually driven in by Jarrod Dyson.

However the Cubs would stretch their lead to 6-1 in the 8th when Anthony Rizzo hit a bases-loaded two run single that drove in pinch-runner Nico Hoerner and Kris Bryant.

Craig Kimbrel would come in for the ninth in a non-save opportunity and it was not pretty. He started out by giving up back to back home runs to Josh Bell and Colin Moran and then he would get three outs to finish the game, but all three outs were hard hit and he still wasn't fooling anyone.