Heyward avoids DL, to miss 3-5 days after MRI revealed bruise

SAN FRANCISCO – The Cubs got their victory Saturday before their game against the Giants ever started.

It would be their only one of the day, but no game in May – even against the three-time champs – was bigger than keeping $184 million right fielder Jason Heyward off the disabled list.

“Very encouraging,” manager Joe Maddon said after learning the Saturday’s MRI on the injured Heyward revealed he had suffered only a bad bruise in the area around his right hip and ribs when he crashed into the wall Friday night.

He’s expected to be sidelined three to five days, the team said.

It was especially encouraging for a club that already is down one outfielder, having lost left fielder Kyle Schwarber for the season after he suffered a knee injury on an outfield collision April 7.

And it was more encouraging still for a team whose 5-3 loss to the Giants Saturday night was their fourth in six games, and sixth in 10 – with just 13 runs in the six losses for a team that led the majors in scoring before that.

Heyward, the Cubs’ No. 2 hitter in the order, was hurt in the first inning Friday night when he made what might have been the most spectacular catch of the season – lunging after a long run, then falling and sliding head-first across the warning track into the wall in right-center.

“It’s a lot better today from last night, surprisingly,” Heyward said Saturday. “It’s still sore, achy and still tight in the area with the contusion, with how my bones hit together with the muscle and everything. But it’s still better, and not as sensitive to touch.”

Already playing with a short bench that included two catchers, the Cubs activated Matt Szczur (hamstring) from the disabled list before Saturday’s game.

Szczur, who played one game on a minor-league rehab assignment with Class AA Tennessee, joined the team before the game and came off the bench as a pinch-hitter in the seventh, striking out.

To make room on the roster, right-hander Neil Ramirez was designated for assignment as the Cubs downsized to a seven-man bullpen for the first time this season.

With a scheduled off day Thursday, the Cubs have the luxury of extending Heyward’s timeline by a day or two without it costing more game time.

“I’ve got to be smart,” said Heyward, a three-time Gold Glove winner. “We’re not in September right now. This is not the time to push through anything like that.”

Heyward was off to a slow start at the plate this season, some of that caused by a sore wrist he dealt with for about a month. But his Gold Glove fielding and base running has been among the best in the league by eye test and metrics, and has been a big part of the Cubs’ early success.

“There’s no rush,” said Maddon, who said he envisioned far worse when he ran on the field with the trainer Friday night to attend to Heyward. “It was not unlike watching Kyle [Schwarber] going out there in Arizona. You saw the way his head crunched into the wall. I really thought it was a neck kind of thing. Thank goodness it was not.”

Heyward – who called the catch “one of my favorite in my life, for sure” – seemed even more relieved after seeing video of the play.

“I’m a lucky man. Very, very lucky,” he said. “God looked out for me on that one. I’m just really fortunate that I was able to get up and walk off the field.”