MIAMI — Daniel Palencia was one strike from putting away another win for the Chicago Cubs.
With Porter Hodge unavailable because of a left oblique issue that will land him on the injured list, manager Craig Counsell turned to Palencia to close out the ninth inning Monday at LoanDepot Park. The hard-throwing 25-year-old right-hander retired the first two batters and went ahead 0-2 on No. 8 hitter Derek Hill when he hung a slider.
A ground-rule double on a ball right fielder Kyle Tucker couldn’t snare and an ensuing four-pitch walk forced Palencia to face Jesús Sánchez. Sticking with his four-seam fastball, Palencia left one over the inner half of the plate that the lefty-hitting Sánchez pulled down the right-field line for a two-run triple to hand the Cubs an 8-7 walk-off loss.
“When you can’t execute your pitch in the final outs, that’s going to happen,” Palencia said. “I’m working hard, I feel good. It’s baseball, that happens, so I just want to keep my head up and be here tomorrow.”
Counsell believed Palencia, pitching for the third time in four days, tired as the inning progressed.
“He’s been working really hard and doing a heck of a job and probably ran out of a little bit of gas there,” Counsell said.
Ben Brown’s 4 2/3-inning start was bookended by two bad innings. Back-to-back homers by the Marlins’ first two batters put the Cubs in an early hole, and in the fifth Miami scored four runs on five hits off Brown.
A standout offensive performance by Miguel Amaya (two hits, five RBIs) was wasted in the loss. His three-run home run in the fourth gave the Cubs the lead, and a two-run double in the four-run sixth tied the score.
Ian Happ nears a return
When he initially hurt his left oblique on a swing earlier this month at Citi Field, left fielder Happ was confident he wouldn’t miss much time.
While he ultimately needed to go on the 10-day injured list, Happ believed it would be only a minimum stint. After taking swings for four consecutive days, he felt encouraged Monday. Happ is eligible to be activated as soon as Tuesday.
“Taking so many swings in your life, you know when it feels right and when it doesn’t,” Happ said Monday. “Making sure that I’m getting enough swings and enough volume and intensity to simulate. Can’t simulate game speed. Can’t simulate check swing. I’m breaking ball in the dirt to a degree, but you can get close. And so we’ve been doing a lot of things to try to simulate that and try to get as close as we can to game speed.”
Happ is expected to come off the injured list at some point during the series in Miami, Counsell said before the opener, as long as he feels good after Monday’s pregame work.
“All signs have been good so far,” Counsell said.
Oblique injuries are known for being fickle to completely heal without re-injury. Knowing the ideal time for a player to return relies on a combination of factors.
“Look, you have to make a decision,” Counsell said. “We’re here to make some decisions and you don’t get all the information, you don’t get 100% guaranteed this is going to go right. But you take everybody’s feedback, you take the player’s feedback, you take medical feedback, take your experience and you make a decision.
“Ian’s had multiple good days of a probably overexaggerated cage routine — like, more than he would do to try to re-create symptoms almost, and he hasn’t — so you feel good about it from that perspective. Guys get hurt, so you can’t control everything, but you feel like you go through a step to get a player back healthy, he shows signs of being healthy, it’s time to go.”
Clarity on Shota Imanaga’s timeline
The Cubs rotation must roll on without left-hander Imanaga as he recovers on the IL from a left hamstring strain.
The goal is for Imanaga, out since May 5, to throw off a mound by the end of next week, Counsell said Monday. From there, the Cubs project “we’re probably well into June” before Imanaga returns to the rotation.
“The injury was a little more serious, a little more significant probably, than we thought at the outset,” Counsell said. “And so we have to take time until he’s fully symptom-free before we can start the running that he might be required and the pushing off of a mound that you would be required to do in a more live setting.
“We’re a little ways away still.”
The Cubs are 7-6 since losing Imanaga, who sustained the injury attempting to cover first base during his last start in Milwaukee. Their starting pitching depth was tested early, losing left-hander Justin Steele to season-ending elbow surgery in April and right-hander Javier Assad twice suffering from an oblique strain, the aggravation of which could prevent him from helping the Cubs until July.
Imanaga had a 2.82 ERA and 142 ERA+ in his first eight starts this season.
“We’re not going to rush (Imanaga),” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said Monday. “We’ve got to get him back and healthy for the length of the season, and getting him back and having him have questions about it doesn’t make any sense.”
