When spring training ended, the Cubs thought they had enough in their rotation they could turn Casey Coleman into a reliever.
Oops, Coleman did a big reversal and went back to starting after Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner were injured. And Saturday he showed why he could be more valuable in the rotation, although he didn’t get the victory in a 3-2 comeback stunner over the Reds.
In his first four starts filling in, Coleman had a 7.36 ERA, which included six runs in less than three innings April 22 against the Dodgers.
Saturday, he gave up two runs six-plus innings, with both runners scoring after he had left the game.
“Mechanically, I’m back a little bit,” he said. “(I have been) working up to being a starter again. They gave me opportunity coming out of spring training to make the team as a reliever and I ended up going back to Triple-A for a little bit and working my way up.
“It was unfortunate with what happened (with injuries) here. But you have to step in and throw strikes and give your team innings. I hadn’t been able to do that, but (Saturday) was a good feeling for me.”
He’s a hit: On Saturday morning, Jeff Samardzija was taking batting practice with the starting pitchers, leading to speculation that …
Nope, Samardzija is not being converted back to the rotation. And his swinging with the starters was — and wasn’t — a surprise to manager Mike Quade.
“It’s not out of the question” that he could hit in late innings, Quade said, if he pitches two or more innings.
“And he doesn’t want to hear anything about the bunt. He loves to hit,” Quade said. “I did ask a while ago (he and some other relievers) do some more swinging the bat. How did he do?”
Extra innings: Marlon Byrd extended his hitting streak to nine games and is hitting .353 during the run. … Reds’ Johnny Cueto comes off the disabled list (biceps tendinitis) to make his season debut Sunday. He has a career 2.92 ERA at Wrigley Field. … The Cubs are one of just five teams without at least a three-game winning streak. The White Sox are one of the others. … Iowa’s Jay Jackson, who had been mentioned as a possible replacement in the battered rotation, saw his ERA rise to 5.31 after allowing five runs in 4 1/3 innings to New Orleans.
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