Cubs notes: Cody Bellinger's ribs, Pete Crow-Armstrong's role & more

When X-rays on his ribs Tuesday night were negative and the pain was “dull,” Cody Bellinger was optimistic. He was even more encouraged when he woke up Wednesday morning, and he told Cubs manager Craig Counsell (as Counsell recounted), “I think I kind of dodged something.”

Unfortunately, a CT scan revealed something else: The crash into the brick wall in the outfield, which forced Bellinger out of Tuesday’s game early, resulted in two fractured ribs on his right side. He was placed on the 10-day injured list Wednesday, and there’s currently no timetable for his return, with Counsell saying, “He’s gotta get symptom-free first, and then we’ll go from there.”

It’s a disappointing outcome for Bellinger, and not just because of his optimism leaving the ballpark Tuesday.

He smashed a first-inning, two-run home run in the series opener with the Astros, one that extended his hitting streak to eight games and gave him a 1.112 OPS during that stretch (raising his season OPS from .566 to .760 in the process). With Seiya Suzuki already on the injured list, this is another hit to the lineup. For at least the nine more days, Bellinger won’t be able to continue to building on his recent performance.

“He’s bummed out, for sure,” Counsell said. “… [But] you gotta keep moving forward.”

“Moving forward” has been the mantra for a team still pushing through all the adversity that’s already been thrown its way.

Along with Bellinger and Suzuki, Justin Steele, Julian Merryweather, Kyle Hendricks and Drew Smyly are all on the IL. Jameson Taillon and Patrick Wisdom only recently returned from their IL stints to start the year, with Taillon picking up the ‘W’ in the Cubs’ 4-3 win over the Astros on Wednesday. Injuries have hit the ballclub hard, but every time, Counsell has preached moving on with a next-man-up mentality.

“We gotta keep going,” he said. “There’s a game. That’s how this works.”

For this newest injury, the Cubs are turning to Pete Crow-Armstrong to help fill the hole Bellinger leaves behind.

Crow-Armstrong, the Cubs’ 22-year-old top prospect, made his debut last season but didn’t record his first MLB hit in 19 plate appearances. At times, he looked overmatched by big league pitching. His offseason work hadn’t manifested into the results he’d hoped for at Triple-A so far this season, where he hit .203 with a .633 OPS in 19 games.

But there are still ways he can positively impact this team. He’ll get some starts, Counsell said, and he should get opportunities as a pinch runner or defensive replacement, too.

“We’re going to play whoever works out best to play that day and is the best nine to start the game,” Counsell said when asked how he plans to use Crow-Armstrong while he’s up, “realizing that Pete’s got some other ways to affect the game, and we’ll use him however we think makes sense.”

Crow-Armstrong still has development to come, but the ultimate goal for the organization is winning at the highest level.

Would the Cubs have liked for this situation to be him developing, performing and breaking down the door to the big leagues? Sure, but when the need arises, they have to figure out how to balance development with using him to help them win ballgames.

“I think we always ask that question,” Counsell said. “Pete’s here because of injuries, right? When these guys get healthy, there’s probably not going to be a spot for him. And so, from that perspective, we’re maybe taking a timeout [with development], but I still think big league at-bats, big league competition — that’s development, too.

“And so, it may not be on an everyday basis here, but there’s still things to learn. The priority is going to be winning games, and we’ll put him in spots that, hopefully, he can help us do that.”

Hendricks’ injury and path back

Perhaps Kyle Hendricks going on the shelf can be a bit of a blessing in disguise.

The veteran starter went on the 15-day IL on Tuesday with a low back strain. He said he felt it during a bullpen between starts, and then it returned during his pregame bullpen and throughout his start Sunday.

Hendricks hasn’t pitched well to start the season. Through five starts, Hendricks is winless (the team has only picked up the win in one of his outings) and owns a 12.00 ERA. But the back injury isn’t something he’s going to use to excuse his struggles.

“There’s a lot of other things playing into that,” Hendricks said. “At the end of the day, there’s points in the season where maybe you have to push through things depending on what else you have — who else is pitching, what you got coming in behind you. There’s just sometimes you have to push through.

“But right now, luckily, we have so many guys throwing the ball so well making up for that, so we’re just going to rely on that, give myself a chance. Why be dumb and push through it at this point? Just get back to 100 percent and then attack the pitching stuff from there.”

Hendricks is getting treatment to reduce the inflammation in his back. He’s playing catch to keep his arm moving, and he’s hoping to throw a bullpen at some point on the Cubs’ upcoming road trip.

While he’s recovering from the injury, Hendricks said he’s going to take this time for “honest self-evaluation.” That includes watching video, evaluating his pitch usage, looking at the data and focusing on the mental side of things.

He’ll utilize the time off not only to get back to full strength, but also to keep working on things to get him back to pitching like his old self again.

“I’m just going to use this time to get things right that I need to get right, and I just want to be here for this team by the end of the year,” Hendricks said. “We know where we want to go, we have the team to do it this year, and I obviously just want to be a big part of that towards the end of the season here.”

More Cubs updates

• Out with a right oblique strain, Suzuki has resumed baseball activities and started taking swings Monday. He’ll continue to ramp up on the Cubs’ upcoming road trip, and if there are no setbacks, a rehab assignment could follow soon thereafter.
  
  “Seiya’s doing great,” Counsell said. “We’ve started baseball activities. We’re going to be in baseball activities for a while here, so that means swinging the bat, obviously, it means playing catch. We’ll be doing that kind of throughout the road trip, and then we should be in a pretty good place once we get through that road trip, in terms of starting to talk about going to play.”

• Along with Hendricks, the Cubs placed Smyly on the 15-day IL on Tuesday with a right hip impingement. Counsell noted the hip issue cropped up while the team was in Arizona last week (where Smyly appeared in all three games). Hoping the issue would clear, the Cubs avoided using him again until Sunday, when he pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief, but Smyly still felt it and ultimately went on the shelf.

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