NEW YORK — The Chicago Cubs’ pitching woes have added another chapter to a nightmarish season.
Right-hander Edward Cabrera needed to be carted off the field Tuesday against the New York Mets at Citi Field because of a left hamstring/adductor strain after stretching into the splits to catch a throw at first base from Nico Hoerner to end the fifth inning in their 9-6 win.
Cabrera, who was on crutches in the clubhouse postgame, will go on the injured list, manager Craig Counsell said. Cabrera is scheduled to have an MRI on Wednesday to determine the severity of the injury.
Cabrera stayed down on the ground, writhing in pain as he grabbed his left leg near the thigh. He initially tried to walk off the field but went to the ground after a couple of steps, prompting the call for a cart to help him off.
“I’m a believer in God, so I just always believe that everything has for a reason so I always just stay positive, that’s my mindset,” Cabrera said through an interpreter. “I can’t be worried about something that you don’t know about, so we’re just going to go get some imaging done tomorrow and then we’ll go from there.”
Cabrera had taken a one-hop comebacker in that leg area in the second inning. The Mets’ Jared Young opened the inning by connecting on a 1-1 pitch for a 100.5-mph exit velocity back up the middle that Cabrera was able to recover from, knocking it down to throw out Young.
With Monday’s rainout forcing a doubleheader Wednesday, the Cubs already were facing having to use either a bullpen game or call up a starter for one of their games this weekend in Milwaukee. Cabrera would be lined up to start the Sunday series finale against the Brewers, potentially adding to the Cubs’ already precarious injury situation they’ve dealt with this season.
“Concerned. I mean, we’re in a tough spot right now,” Counsell said of the state of the Cubs’ pitching and their depth. “I think we can get through it to the All-Star break, but it’s going to be a little bit of a puzzle until then.”
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Things haven’t gone Cabrera’s way in his first season with the Cubs. The 28-year-old went on the 15-day IL in late May because of a right middle finger blister and exited his last start in the fifth inning because of a hand cramp.
“Nobody wants to get injured,” Cabrera said. “Everybody wants to go out there and compete, everybody wants to go out there and give it their absolute best. So it’s not something that we all want.”
Cabrera’s night was likely over after the fifth, having thrown 99 pitches while allowing two runs on three hits and working around four walks.
“The game was going along really well, he pitched really well, but you’ve got two outs in both (second and fifth) innings and then the innings just stopped,” Counsell said. “Probably threw half his pitches, maybe more, during those two situations, but in the end he limited the damage in both those innings, and that was really important.”
The Cubs gave Cabrera an early cushion to work with behind a five-run second against Mets starter Kodai Senga.
A Carson Kelly bases-loaded walk, Dansby Swanson’s sacrifice fly and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s three-run home run got the offense going. For Crow-Armstrong, it was his sixth home run in his last eight games and 17th of the season. Swanson added two hits — a two-run home run in the fourth and RBI double in the eighth — while Kelly also drove in a run during the eighth on a double.
Counsell was ejected in the top of the seventh after the Mets successfully challenged to get Crow-Armstrong out on a steal attempt during a ball-four pitch to Michael Busch, with the ruling determining Crow-Armstrong had established possession of the base then lost it when his right hand came off with the tag on him.