{"id":4095,"date":"2025-06-22T02:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T02:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/4095\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T02:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T02:36:09","slug":"chicago-cubs-starter-to-return-for-upcoming-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/4095\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs starter to return for upcoming trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before the Chicago Cubs outslugged the Seattle Mariners 10-7<\/a> on Saturday, manager Craig Counsell delivered positive news about left-handed starter Shota Imanaga.<\/p>\n

But it opened the door to some questions as to who will be the odd man out of the rotation once he is back.<\/p>\n

Counsell said Imanaga, on the injured list since May 5<\/a> with a left hamstring strain, will return and pitch in St. Louis next week. The Cubs open a four-game series against the Cardinals on Monday.<\/p>\n

Counsell didn\u2019t specify which day Imanaga would pitch. Wednesday would be logical as he would be throwing on the traditional four days\u2019 rest, but Thursday could be in the equation if they want to give him an extra day.<\/p>\n

Imanaga threw 4 1-3 shutout innings with eight strikeouts on 72 pitches in his rehab game for Triple-A Iowa on Friday night at Nashville.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything went great, and he did what we hoped he would do,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cHe\u2019s in a position to be ready so he\u2019s going to join us in St. Louis and we\u2019ll figure out the next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those steps will include who will be out of the rotation.\u00a0Counsell wasn\u2019t ready to make any decisions yet. There are a few plots still developing.<\/p>\n

Matthew Boyd<\/a> made No. 3 on ESPN\u2019s Top 10 plays of the day Friday when he caught a hot liner, but he suffered a left shoulder injury in the process. If he misses any time, Imanaga could slide into that spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to know anything for a couple of days \u2014 it\u2019s just a swelling issue,\u201d Counsell said of Boyd\u2019s shoulder. \u201cIt\u2019s going to go away as the days go on. It\u2019s going to get better but we want to make sure as we get close to the start that it\u2019s not impacting him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rookie Cade Horton, who picked up a no-decision in Saturday\u2019s win, joins Ben Brown, Jameson Taillon and Colin Rea as pitchers currently in the rotation.\u00a0All bets are off at this point. Counsell and his staff could even decide to go one rotation using six starters.<\/p>\n

\n

Photos: Chicago Cubs beat Seattle Mariners 10-7 at Wrigley Field<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThose are the possibilities you think about,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cEverything is on the table and you play out a bunch of scenarios and let the days play out until you have to make\u00a0\u00a0a decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can have great ideas about what we\u2019re going to do, but it\u2019s not today. They can all change. It\u2019s our job to think in advance, but things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imanaga is 3-2 with a 2.82 ERA in eight starts. The Cubs have gone 25-16 since he went on the injured list.<\/p>\n

Reliver Porter Hodge, who is recovering from a left oblique strain, was roughed up against the Nashville Sounds in his rehab appearance. He gave up seven runs, six earned, on four hits with two walks in one-third of an inning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t as bad as it looked, but it obviously wasn\u2019t a good outing,\u201d Counsell said.<\/p>\n

Look for Hodge to pitch another game for Iowa on Sunday or Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s have a good outing and get him on track and he\u2019ll be back,\u201d Counsell said.<\/p>\n

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: June 21, 2025 at 5:57 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before the Chicago Cubs outslugged the Seattle Mariners 10-7 on Saturday, manager Craig Counsell delivered positive news about…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[5438,5437,960,1271,5440,1816,5386,1818,5439,5436,5441,5435],"class_list":{"0":"post-4095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-ben-brown","9":"tag-cade-horton","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-cubs","12":"tag-colin-rea","13":"tag-craig-counsell","14":"tag-il","15":"tag-illinois","16":"tag-jameson-taillon","17":"tag-matthew-boyd","18":"tag-porter-hodge","19":"tag-shota-imanaga"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}