Cubs lean – In the wake of a brutal run of pitching injuries, the Cubs beat the Giants 5-1 behind Javier Assad’s six scoreless innings, but the broader rotation struggle—marked by a 6.46 starters’ ERA since May 9—has left the team feeling like it’s “hanging on by the seat
SAN FRANCISCO — Another night, another Cubs starter who wasn’t part of the Opening Day rotation.
It’s mid-June, and the Cubs already knew the season would require more than five starters for a six-month grind. Still. the speed and scale of the injuries to their rotation has pushed them into a constant rhythm of improvisation—calling up fill-ins. adjusting workloads. and hoping the next patch holds.
Right-hander Javier Assad was the one trusted in the series opener Friday against the Giants. Not a week earlier. he shut them down with 6⅓ innings of relief—an outing manager Craig Counsell later described as “heroic.” On Friday. after shoulder soreness forced Assad into the start. he delivered again: three hits allowed and five strikeouts across six scoreless innings as the Cubs beat the Giants 5-1. The win snapped a rough stretch and marked the first time the Cubs had strung together back-to-back victories since May 27-28.
“Javy carries himself like a pro. ” left-hander Matthew Boyd said this week. after Assad’s shoulder soreness forced him into the start. Boyd added that Assad has “a professional mindset” and is “mature beyond his years.” “We’ve said it all the time: It’s going to take all of us to take us where we want to go. ” Boyd said. “It’s awesome to see him go do that. He’s a talented pitcher.”.
Assad wasn’t supposed to be in this role right now. He was sent to Triple-A Iowa in the middle of last month, and the way his arm has steadied the Cubs through the latest round of rotation disruptions has been anything but routine.
The problem is how quickly the Cubs’ options keep shrinking.
Right-hander Cade Horton is down for the season. left-hander Justin Steele’s status remains unknown. right-hander Jameson Taillon is on the injured list until after the All-Star break. and Boyd’s return from the IL has been delayed. Promising depth has come in fits, and other attempted solutions have not consistently held.
Right-hander Ben Brown, though, has been a rare bright spot. Entering play Friday, Brown’s 1.74 ERA was the fourth-lowest among pitchers with at least 50 innings.
Other pitchers haven’t provided the same lift. Right-hander Colin Rea has an ERA north of 5.00 despite ranking second on the team in innings pitched after starting the season in the bullpen. Left-hander Jordan Wicks was sent back to Iowa after a couple of uninspiring outings.
With healthy arms also struggling at times, the pitching load has become harder to manage than most fans see from the outside.
“How we’ve handled it, there’s times when you feel you’ve got things under control and there’s times where you feel like you’re hanging on by the seat of your pants,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy told the Sun-Times on Wednesday.
That uncertainty isn’t unique to the Cubs—seasons wear down even the most stacked staffs. But the Cubs’ expectations are championship-level, and they can’t afford long stretches where the rotation can’t carry its share.
Thanks to a 9-22 stretch through Friday, fans may not need reminding how quickly things can spiral. Still. even the possibility of October is the reason the depth matters now: if the starters don’t stabilize. the Cubs don’t just risk seeding—they risk playing time itself in the postseason discussion.
Hottovy framed the approach in the terms the Cubs have been leaning on all season: workload tracking, placing pitchers in situations designed to help them succeed, and evaluating where players stand.
“Ultimately. the process of how we go about evaluating where guys are — tracking workloads. making sure we’re continuing to put guys in the best spots to be successful — that’s what’s most important. ” Hottovy said. “We’ve done a decent job with that. But, ultimately, it comes down to guys stepping up.”.
So far, the rotation-wide “stepping up” hasn’t matched the moment.
Entering play Friday. Cubs starters had the second-highest ERA in the majors at 6.46 since May 9—the day after the team’s second 10-game winning streak ended. The list of struggling arms includes poor showings by Taillon. Edward Cabrera. and Shota Imanaga. none of whom are simply depth pieces. It also includes Rea and Wicks—and even Brown. who has done a substantial amount of work to keep that starters’ figure from climbing even higher.
The Cubs’ win over the Giants offered something to cling to. In the scoreboard’s calm, the team found a clear example of what happens when a pitcher like Assad is ready when injuries force the question.
Still, the bigger story doesn’t end with one strong start. It’s the sense that, until the rotation fully re-assembles, every start has to be earned—sometimes twice, sometimes on borrowed time—because the standings don’t pause for setbacks.
Cubs Javier Assad Giants rotation injuries Craig Counsell Tommy Hottovy Ben Brown Matthew Boyd Cade Horton Justin Steele Jameson Taillon Colin Rea Jordan Wicks