BALTIMORE — Just as the Chicago Cubs are starting to roll in their best stretch since April, they will be without one of their best hitters during the important lead-up to the July 30 trade deadline.
The Cubs entered Thursday as winners in five of their last six games and looking to sweep the Baltimore Orioles. They must try to climb up the National League wild-card standings without Cody Bellinger after placing him on the 10-day injured list Thursday with a fracture in his left middle finger and recalling outfielder Alexander Canario from Triple-A Iowa.
Bellinger is shut down through the All-Star break and then will begin range-of-motion rehab on his finger. The Cubs do not have a timeframe as a fracture’s healing process can vary for each individual.
“I don’t really know how long he’s going to be out,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s just going to have to see how he feels and we’ve got to see how it’s healing.”
While his return is open-ended, the nature of Bellinger’s injury likely will sideline him for a couple of weeks. Rejoining the Cubs before the end of July would be on the fast end of his recovery, Counsell noted, though “it’s possible.” In the meantime, Pete Crow-Armstrong is expected to be the regular center fielder against right-handed starters while Canario could get some at-bats versus lefties.
No matter how long Bellinger’s absence extends, it’s a big blow for the Cubs.
“We’re losing the guy who hits third in the lineup every day, so that hurts,” Counsell said. “You don’t replace that necessarily. We have to kind of circle the wagons while he’s out and do our best to continue what’s been some pretty decent offensive stretch here.”
In their first game without Bellinger, the Cubs completed a dominant sweep of the Orioles with an 8-0 victory Thursday night. The Cubs (45-49) outscored the Orioles 21-2 this week while pitching back-to-back shutouts and tossing 24 consecutive scoreless innings to end the three-game series.
The Orioles suffered their first sweep at Camden Yards since Aug. 27-29, 2021, ending a streak of 71 multigame home series without being swept.
“We’ve played in a way that limits our room for error and so we need series like this really to get back into this thing,” Counsell said. “This week was a good start.”
Left-hander Justin Steele, who turned 29 Thursday, appeared on track to deliver his second consecutive complete game, needing only 70 pitches to get through seven shutout innings. However, Steele didn’t go back out for the eighth with the Cubs holding an eight-run lead, ending his night with three hits allowed, no walks and four strikeouts. After Steele went the distance in his last outing, Counsell saw it as a chance to give Steele a break with the bullpen in a good spot to finish the game.
Steele wanted to stay in the game but understood Counsell’s decision.
“I was efficient again today and I told him I was good to keep going,” Steele said. “But with the amount of workload last time out and I’ve been pitching every fifth day since I’ve been back, so he just wanted to make a decision and I was OK with it.
“(The sweep) is the kind of things you need to be doing especially in the spot we’re in, but we’re feeling good. The boys are rolling right now. It’s fun right now.”
Seiya Suzuki, occupying Bellinger’s typical spot in the order, drove in three runs and had two doubles and a triple for his first career game with three extra-base hits. The Cubs’ top four hitters — Nico Hoerner, Michael Busch, Suzuki and Ian Happ — combined for eight hits, six runs and six RBIs. Dansby Swanson also drove in two runs, one on a solo homer.
“It’s very, very unfortunate that Belli’s not going to be with us in the lineup, he’s a really, really great player so it’s very hard to cover for him with how much value he brings to the team,” Suzuki said through interpreter Toy Matsushita. “I don’t know if I can do as much as he does, but we’re all going to try to cover for him and just want him back as soon as possible.
“To sweep a team like the Orioles, a really good team, it’s going to bring us confidence not just for myself but everyone in this clubhouse, and we hope this is going to drive the momentum to help us finish off this first half of the season strong.”
Bellinger suffered the injury during his at-bat in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s 4-0 win against the Orioles. Lefty reliever Cionel Pérez uncorked a 97-mph sinker that hit Bellinger’s left middle finger. Bellinger initially stayed in but was replaced in right field by Miles Mastrobuoni before the bottom half of the inning. Bellinger didn’t trust he could make a throw if needed after gripping a baseball in the dugout between half-innings.
Bellinger’s finger was sore and swollen postgame, though he was encouraged by its range of motion. But he didn’t want to be too optimistic before getting a CT scan and learning the results, which proved prescient.
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“Extremely disappointed, frustrated — just a frustrating day,” Bellinger said Thursday. “I kind of expected it because the ball squared me up and I’ve been hit in the hand before but not quite as square like that so it was pretty painful.”
This is Bellinger’s second stint on the IL this season. He missed 13 games in late April and early May because of two rib fractures from crashing into the outfield’s brick wall at Wrigley Field. If the Cubs front office decides to try to move players before the July 30 trade deadline should the team not be close enough in the playoff hunt, Bellinger, who holds player options for 2025 ($27.5 million) and 2026 ($25 million), appeared to be a player who would have garnered interest.
With his fractured finger potentially keeping him out past the deadline, Bellinger said he hasn’t thought much about the possible impact of the injury keeping him with the Cubs.
“It’d probably make it a little harder I imagine, but I don’t really know the whole process other than just control what I control,” Bellinger said. “That’s all I really try to focus on.
“Every single team I’ve been on, no matter how many games we’ve won, there’s been multiple rough stretches that go on. It’s just such a hard game and obviously we went on a pretty extensive one, which was extremely frustrating, but the guys in this clubhouse just continue to believe in each other and understand that we are a really good team and all around we have what it takes to continue to win games.”
It’s another painful break for the Cubs to lose a key bat in the lineup: Bellinger owns a .290 average, .352 on-base percentage and .359 slugging percentage in his last 34 games. He knows his power numbers haven’t been where they should be this season, but trying to force himself to produce more slug could have the opposite effect.
“I’ve looked at it like I’ve been a few feet short of like three or four home runs, so if I hit those balls over the fence then it’s not really even a thought in my head,” Bellinger said. “Home runs come and go. Obviously I know that the slug hasn’t been there, but I still never really try to slug. It usually happens and I just continue to focus on my goal and keep on playing.”