The Cubs have battled a rash of injuries early in the season, but they improved to 16-9 with a 3-1 victory Thursday against the cellar-dwelling Astros.
Even with two of their best hitters in Seiya Suzuki (strained right oblique) and Cody Bellinger (fractured right rib), two starting pitchers in Justin Steele (strained left hamstring) and Kyle Hendricks (strained lower back) and two reliable relievers in Julian Merryweather (rib stress fracture) and Drew Smyly (right hip impingement) sidelined for most or all of the three-game series, the Cubs swept the Astros to kick off a stretch of 16 games in as many days.
Several of those injured players have made good progress in their recoveries this week.
Suzuki went through agility drills before the game Thursday. Set up in the middle of a pattern of cones in left field, he drop-stepped and took off running, as if chasing down a fly ball.
“Seiya’s doing great,” manager Craig Counsell said Wednesday.
Suzuki continued to run through baseball activities this week, including hitting — which he started Monday — and throwing, Counsell said. He’ll keep ramping up in this stage of his rehab through the Cubs’ week-long trip to Boston and New York, which begins Friday.
“We should be in a pretty good place once we get through that road trip in terms of starting to talk about going to play,” Counsell said.
Steele is still set to appear in extended-spring game action Friday in Arizona. He is scheduled to throw about three innings, pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said.
“Hopefully, we’re starting his five-day rotation from this point on,” Hottovy said. “We obviously know we have some days where we can give him that flexibility, but it’ll be good to see him compete and start facing some hitters again, get into some game-type atmosphere.”
Hendricks is targeting this weekend in Boston to throw off a mound, testing his back with “high-intent” throws. If he comes out of that session OK, the Cubs will start to plan out when he’ll go on a minor-league rehab assignment, Hottovy said.
“We don’t want to rush anything,” Hottovy said. “But we also want to make sure we’re working on the things that he wants to work on, that we need to work on, to continue to help him progress as the season goes on.”
