Matt Boyd returns from IL to sturdy Cubs rotation
Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images When Matt Boyd needed to go on the 15-day injured list with a left biceps strain, it was just a day after the Cubs had lost Cade Horton to what would eventually be a season-ending elbow injury . Things looked dire on the pitching front. And yet, Cubs starting pitchers held their own, posting a collective ERA of 3.
54 between April 6 and the 21st, the day before Boyd returned from the injured list. They are a big part of the reason why the Cubs have gone from two games below . 500 the day Boyd went down to riding an eight-game winning streak that’s brought them to six games above .
500. Boyd tossed 4 2/3 innings of two-run ball in Wednesday’s 7-2 win over the Phillies. “It’s been the key to this run we’ve had,” Craig Counsell said of his rotation.
“The length [of starts], the quality, those are really meaningful. ” Having Boyd back is big for the rotation, and if not for the depth in the pitching staff, Counsell and the Cubs training staff might have felt a little less comfortable putting him on the injured list two weeks ago. Counsell said that Boyd started feeling mostly healthy as many as 12 days ago, but the decision to place Boyd on the IL was one they felt good about for the sake of Boyd’s long-term health and because of the arms ready to step up in his absence.
Namely, Colin Rea and Javier Assad. Rea has been tasked more or less with taking Horton’s spot in the rotation, and Assad was called up from Triple-A Iowa to do the same for Boyd. In his last three outings, Rea has thrown a quality start in two of them.
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