Right-hander Tyler Chatwood was scratched from his scheduled start Friday against the Brewers with mid-back tightness. The Cubs said he’s considered day-to-day. Right-hander Alec Mills made the start in his place.
Chatwood was excellent in his first two starts this season before running into some trouble in the third. He allowed only one earned run in his first two starts combined before a rough start against the Royals in his most recent outing, in which he yielded eight earned runs and 11 hits in 21⁄3 innings.
Chatwood is 2-1 with a 5.40 ERA overall.
The Cubs have avoided any significant injury issues so far during the shortened season, but they had concerns about the depth of their rotation even before the season and can ill-afford to have one of their starters miss any time.
The Cubs have been without left-hander Jose Quintana since July 2 after he had surgery to repair the sensory nerve in his pitching thumb. Quintana is on the back end of his rehab and is scheduled to throw a four-inning simulated game Sunday at the Cubs’ alternate training site in South Bend, Indiana.
While it would make sense for Quintana to fill Chatwood’s spot in the rotation if Chatwood has to go on the 10-day injured list, manager David Ross said he isn’t ready to turn Quintana loose just yet.
‘‘Yeah, I think he’s still a little bit away,’’ Ross said. ‘‘He’s gonna throw Sunday, another sim game, and we’ll get a better judge there. Talking to him, I didn’t get the feel that he’s quite ready yet. I think we’ll get a lot of feedback from Sunday. But rushing a guy like that, who is so important, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense in this scenario.’’
Cubs move up first pitch, announce doubleheaders
The Cubs announced their game Saturday against the Brewers will be played at 2:20 p.m. because of the forecast for inclement weather later in the evening. The game originally was scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m.
The team also announced the postponed series last weekend against the Cardinals has been rescheduled as part of three doubleheaders at Wrigley Field.
Each doubleheader will feature an originally scheduled game, as well as one from the scheduled series last weekend in St. Louis. The Cubs will be the home team for the first game of each doubleheader, and the Cardinals will be the home team for the second game of each.
The first two doubleheaders are scheduled for Monday and Wednesday. The third is scheduled for Sept. 5.
