Why Shota Imanaga and Jordan Wicks pitched in minor-league games Wednesday

MESA, Ariz. — As spring training approaches its finale, starting pitchers are going deeper into games, which leads to a scarcity of relief innings.

It’s a challenge every team has to navigate in the last week of camp. The Cubs have 22 pitchers on their spring roster and decisions to make regarding the back end of the rotation and the bullpen.

On Wednesday, the Cubs tackled the innings-shortage issue by throwing a bullpen day against the A’s and having Shota Imanaga and Jordan Wicks start in minor-league games against the Giants’ High-A and Single-A teams.

The setup gave the relievers innings against major-league hitters and let Imanaga and Wicks build up in a controlled setting. Each threw over 85 pitches in 5⅓ innings.

“You get to pick and choose what you want to work on,” Wicks said. “Me and [catcher Bryce Windham] would talk every inning and basically be like, ‘OK, this inning, we’re going to do this, regardless of what happens, we just need to get reps.’ ”

Wicks estimates he threw five sliders in a row to one batter. He was working on maintaining the shape of the pitch while landing it in the strike zone.

“The first couple innings, the shape was really good, it was just a little bit down, which happens,” Wicks said. “And we only get that feedback by being able to throw a bunch of them in the innings. So, coming back out after that we were able to raise our sights and it was in-zone a lot better. And it was really good after that.”

The Cubs have four pitchers competing for the last two spots in the rotation. That quartet — Wicks, Drew Smyly, Javier Assad and Hayden Wesneski — started the first time through the rotation in Cactus League play. As the rest of the starters slotted in the second time around, the Cubs piggybacked pitchers to get all of them work.

Now that starters have built up to around five innings, that’s no longer an option. Wesneski’s 1⅓-inning appearance Tuesday was another example of scheduling gymnastics. Manager Craig Counsell said Wesneski is healthy, but the Cubs wanted to get him in a Cactus League game — even if it was a short outing.

Praise for Hottovy

Coaches, and especially those on the pitching side, have an “overload of data,” as Counsell put it, at their disposal. Their job is to figure out how much information they should unload on the player and how to present it.

“I think it’s one of Tommy’s real strengths, absolutely,” Counsell said of pitching coach Tommy Hottovy. “He understands both the information, and then personality types, to be able to tailor the information in a way that the player can understand it.”

Injury update

Corner infielder Patrick Wisdom showed no improvement Wednesday after being scratched from the lineup the day before, Counsell said. Wisdom has been sidelined for about a week with back stiffness, and the issue flared up again Tuesday. He had imaging on his back, and the Cubs were waiting on the results as of Wednesday morning, according to Counsell.

A’s 3, Cubs 1

The Cubs (15-10-2) had a bullpen game Wednesday, with starters Shota Imanaga and Jordan Wicks instead pitching in minor-league games against the Giants at the Cubs’ Mesa facility. The Cubs’ high-leverage relievers opened the game, with Mark Leiter Jr. starting, followed by Adbert Alzolay, Hector Neris, Julian Merryweather, Jose Cuas, Carl Edwards Jr., Richard Lovelady and Keegan Thompson. Each of them threw one inning.

• Of the Cubs’ eight pitchers, Neris was the only one who allowed runs. The veteran right-hander had three strikeouts, but he also gave up home runs to the Rockies’ Nick Allen and Brent Rooker in the third inning.

• The Cubs went hitless until the seventh inning, when Ezequiel Pagan hit a homer. That solo shot accounted for the Cubs’ only hit and only run of the game.

• On deck: Cubs at Rockies, 3:10 p.m. Thursday, Scottsdale, Drew Smyly vs. Ryan Feltner.