Chicago Cubs get great news and then horrible news in pair of pitcher rehab outings

In Thursday’s loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, starter Jameson Taillon, who’s been an anchor for a battered starting rotation, gave a flat performance, allowing 5 earned runs in 4 innings pitched. The bullpen also caved in, giving up 3 earned runs in 5 innings (all 3 from Genesis Cabrera).

In Friday’s loss to the Seattle Mariners, starter Matthew Boyd was decent enough, allowing 2 earned runs in 5 innings, but then had to leave the game after bumping his shoulder in a spectacular face-saving (literally) on-the-mound catch (more on that later). Then, however, the bullpen completely caved, giving up 7 earned runs the rest of the way (including another 3 from the since-released Cabrera).

The recent pitching struggles lined up perfectly with the rehab appearances of two much-needed pitchers on the mend.

Shota Imanaga dazzles with Iowa

On Friday, Shota Imanaga threw 4.1 scoreless innings for the Iowa Cubs. In the 72-pitch appearance, the lefty struck out 8 and looked big league-ready. The Cubs are weighing their options when it comes to the Japanese star’s return, but he could return to active major league duty as soon as next week’s series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The 31-year-old Imanaga was placed on the IL on May 5 with a left hamstring strain and had two solid rehab outings in the Arizona Complex League before Friday’s appearance.

His possible reactivation would come just in time to aid a thinned-out rotation. Matthew Boyd’s bump to the shoulder on Friday looks to be nothing more than a big bruise, but his early departure from the game spotlighted just how thin the Cubs’ starting pitching is and how precarious their situation could be if just one more arm were lost.

Porter Hodge falls to pieces

The Iowa Cubs’ rehab appearance of reliever Porter Hodge, on the other hand, went absolutely horrendously.

Appearing in the same game as Imanaga, the 24-year-old Hodge gave up 7 runs (6 earned) in just a third of an inning, allowing 4 hits and 2 walks.

Brett Taylor of Bleacher Nation was kind enough to detail Hodge’s entire outing:

“…bunt single, stolen base, walk, bunt throwing error by Hodge, single, walk, groundout, single, triple, yanked.

He was unplayably wild, and although the inning started with some plays that could’ve been made, it spiraled badly from there. I’m think he’s going to need another rehab appearance or two. Very unfortunate.”

The Cubs had hoped to bring Hodge up, who’s been on the IL since late May with an oblique issue that morphed into a hip issue, sooner rather than later.

The release of Cabrera would’ve been the ideal time for such a move if Hodge had proven himself to be rock-solid. That was obviously not the case.

Instead, the Cubs called up Nate Pearson to take that Cabrera roster spot. Pearson gives the Cubs the possibility of more innings and even a potential spot starter if necessary– if he can keep from imploding like he did earlier in the season.

The Cubs will continue to be in a tough spot when it comes to pitching. The strength of Imanaga’s recent rehab outing is a huge positive for the starting rotation. The failure of Hodge, meanwhile, removes one more potential asset from a bullpen possibly starting to falter.