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3 takeaways from Cubs' West Coast trip, including Kyle Hendricks' struggles and Christopher Morel's stellar defense

Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune on

Published in Baseball

PHOENIX — Hayden Wesneski’s phone kept buzzing with so many missed calls and text messages in the wee hours Wednesday that he eventually awoke to find it on the floor.

Thankfully, Wesneski got an assist from his Triple-A Iowa roommate Matt Mervis, who woke him up at 1 a.m. with a knock on the door to let him know their manager, Marty Pevey, was trying to get ahold of him. Wesneski immediately knew that meant a major league call-up.

A long day that required a 4 a.m. trip to the ballpark to pick up his gear en route to the airport to fly to Chicago and then halfway across the country to Phoenix culminated in what manager Craig Counsell called the Cubs’ best pitching performance of the season. Running on little sleep and adrenaline, Wesneski tossed four shutout innings of one-hit ball without walking a batter in the Cubs’ 5-3 victory Wednesday against the Diamondbacks to secure the series win.

“It’s just one of the things where you just have to focus on the job,” Wesneski said. “It’s trying to make it as simple as that right? Like, I’ve gotta do this today. OK, let’s do it really good and figure it out and it worked out.”

A depleted Cubs bullpen was bolstered by much-needed reinforcements Wednesday. Following back-to-back extra-inning games, the Cubs called up Wesneski and Colten Brewer from Triple-A. Left-hander Luke Little and right-hander Daniel Palencia were optioned to Iowa. Right-hander Julian Merryweather (rib stress fracture) was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot for Brewer. Merryweather won’t be eligible to return until June 5.

The Cubs used all but two relievers in Tuesday’s 11-10 loss in 10 innings, only staying away from Héctor Neris, following three straight appearances, and Keegan Thompson, who threw two innings the night before. Over the last three games entering Wednesday’s series finale in Arizona, Cubs relievers combined to throw 267 pitches in 11 1/3 innings.

 

“We have to have able pitchers today and really just kind of through the weekend,” Counsell said.

Brewer, 31, made a good impression during spring training and brings big league experience to the bullpen with 84 career appearances for three organizations. Among the nonroster invitees in camp, Brewer “definitely was somebody that we knew at some point would get here,” Counsell said.

Wesneski was in the mix to make the roster out of spring training, but the Cubs opted to have him go to Iowa and stretch out in case they needed a pitcher who could provide length. Wesneski has found success when used out of the bullpen, posting a 3.49 ERA in 25 appearances (49 innings) the previous two years.

“For these guys in Triple-A, I mean, when you come up you’ve got to be ready to do whatever,” Counsell said. “We’ve asked Ben Brown to do that, it’s the same thing we’re going to ask Hayden to do. It’s really get outs, it’s not label myself as a starter or reliever. Let’s get people out.”

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