The Cubs lost more than a game to the Cardinals when Dexter Fowler’s walk-off home run sailed over the glove of Jason Heyward on Sunday night.
Heyward hit his head on the wall on that play, and after a day of medical observation, the Cubs put him on the seven-day concussion disabled list before Tuesday’s 4-3 victory over the Marlins.
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The move was backdated one day. It is unclear whether he’ll be ready to return when he is eligible Monday against the Braves.
“I knew he was not feeling 100 percent [Monday],” said manager Joe Maddon, who learned only the day after the 14th-inning play that Heyward smacked his head. “Then I talked to him in the dugout, and I could tell things were just off a little bit.
“We just had to go through the protocol and take our time with it.”
Baez ‘fine’ after groin scare
Second baseman Javy Baez said he felt fine the day after leaving Monday’s game because of groin tightness, enough that he tried to talk his way into the lineup.
Instead, Maddon chose to save Baez to start against left-hander Wei-Yin Chin on Wednesday afternoon.
But the Cubs’ home run and RBI leader came off the bench Tuesday to single leading off the seventh and remained in the game at third base.
Baez was hurt Monday on an awkward play in the fifth before leaving in the seventh after feeling tightness again. He tested his game fitness with the trainer and strength coach hours before the game.
Tseng gets call for Darvish
Despite an 8.04 ERA at Class AAA Iowa, Jen-Ho Tseng was recalled and started in place Yu Darvish, who was placed on the disabled list Monday because of the flu.
Tseng gave up three two-out runs in the first inning on a two-run homer followed by back-to-back doubles and then pitched a 1-2-3 second inning before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the second.
Maddon said several factors played into choosing Tseng, including who was available from the Iowa rotation based on their starting schedules.
Top prospect Adbert Alzolay (2-1, 2.91 ERA) might have been in the conversation had he not pitched just three days earlier, Maddon said.
David Bote, who was recalled from Iowa to take Heyward’s spot on the roster, hit a two-run double with two out in the second as the pinch hitter for Tseng.
Pitching moves
Trying to cover for a bullpen taxed by extra-inning games in St. Louis over the weekend and the anticipated short start by Tseng, the Cubs optioned Cory Mazzoni back to Iowa after his scoreless ninth inning Monday night.
Left-hander Rob Zastryzny was recalled to take Mazzoni’s place and pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Tseng, allowing just one hit and a walk with two strikeouts.
The Cubs scored the winning run with one out in the bottom of the eighth when Victor Caratini grounded to drawn-in second baseman Starlin Castro, who took too much time throwing to the plate as Kris Bryant slid home safely.
Caratini also drove in the tying run in the sixth on a grounder to short, with Bryant also scoring on that play.
Ticklish situation
Caratini and the Marlins’ Derek Dietrich exchanged words in the fourth after Dietrich was thrown out by 10 feet and collided into Caratini. The benches emptied, but order was quickly restored, helped in part when Anthony Rizzo “shoved” Castro, and Bryant tickled his former teammate.
“That one probably required tickling more than punches,” Maddon said.
