Right-hander Adbert Alzolay left the Cubs’ 14-10 loss Friday to the Marlins in Miami with tightness in his left hamstring. The injury occurred when he threw a pitch in the second inning and reached for his left leg, calling for medical attention.
After a quick conversation with head trainer PJ Mainville and manager David Ross, Alzolay was removed from the game.
Something appeared to be wrong with Alzolay all inning. He allowed the first four batters of the second to reach base, including yielding a grand slam to Bryan De La Cruz that gave the Marlins a 5-4 lead.
‘‘He told me it was bothering him since the second hitter [of the inning],’’ catcher Robinson Chirinos said. ‘‘He was trying to pitch through it. . . . You could see that pain through his eyes and how he felt when he came out from that game.’’
Alzolay likely suffered the injury while running the bases in the top of the second. He doubled to lead off the inning and was on the bases for an extended period before coming out to pitch again.
Things didn’t get better after Alzolay’s injury, with right-hander Dan Winkler allowing the baserunner he inherited to score before yielding six runs of his own without getting an out.
The Marlins sent 15 batters to the plate in the inning, scoring 11 runs on eight hits, including two homers. The 11 runs were the most the Cubs have allowed in an inning this season.
After struggling against the Brewers’ pitching to end the homestand, the Cubs’ offense got to work early against the Marlins and came out on the attack against left-hander Jesus Luzardo.
David Bote kicked things off by launching a long two-run homer in the first to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead. They added two more runs in the second on an RBI triple by Johneshwy Fargas and a sacrifice fly by Sergio Alcantara to open a 4-1 lead before things fell apart.
Chirinos hit a solo homer in the fifth before Frank Schwindel and Ian Happ added two-run shots in the eighth to pull the Cubs to 14-9.
‘‘It’s been really hard the last couple of weeks,’’ said Chirinos, who was 4-for-6 with two doubles to go with his homer. ‘‘We’re doing everything we can to put everything together to win and to put good games out there. So hopefully we can turn things around and start winning games.’’
He said it
Ross, on the Cubs’ rough stretch: ‘‘My mindset is we’ve got to get better. I think that’s the main thing. Continue to compete.
‘‘We’ve had two really good teams [the White Sox and Brewers] come in at a moment where we’re not at our strongest, so it hasn’t looked good. Not a great homestand, but the teams we’ve played are really talented. We’ve been in some of those games and we haven’t been in a couple of them. But what I would say is that nobody likes losing.’’
