Cubs manager Craig Counsell said right-hander Ben Brown, who started 15 games for last season and has been the Cubs’ most reliable reliever this season, could join the starting rotation in the absence of injured left-hander Matthew Boyd.
Boyd underwent surgery to remove a torn part of the meniscus cartilage in his left knee Thursday morning, the club announced. The procedure, called an arthroscopic partial meniscectomy, is designed to ease pain and locking in the knee. Boyd is expected to be on crutches for a few days before beginning rehabilitation.
“We know he’s going to miss six weeks,’’ Counsell said. “That’s what we’re hoping for. Obviously, we’ll see how it goes. I think the important thing is, how much time he misses throwing. The knee’s gonna recover quickly, but how much throwing down time do we have.’’
Asked about Brown taking Boyd’s place in the rotation, Counsell said: “I think just covering the innings is kind of what we’re thinking about. So yeah, that’s one of the things we’ve talked about, absolutely.’’
Brown said he would be open to starting.
“Yeah, whatever it is, just put my best foot forward,’’ he said. “I like where I’m at. So whatever it is.’’
Brown said he didn’t think it would take long for him to be stretched out as a starter. Counsell said he has made a point of giving Brown multiple innings. He went 3 1/3 innings in each of his first two appearances this season, and has gone at least two innings in eight of his next 10 appearances. He has thrown a team-high 25 2/3 innings out of the pen, posting a 2.10 ERA while striking out 10 and walking eight. Four of those walks came in his first three appearances.
Brown began last season in the rotation, but was dropped after a rough outing in St. Louis on June 23, when he gave up eight runs on nine hits in five innings, including four home runs. He made one start thereafter, on July 27, when he allowed just three hits and a run in a 5-4 win over the White Sox.
Roster moves
Corbin Martin, who inherited a 4-2 lead in the ninth inning Wednesday and gave up three runs without retiring a batter, was designated for assignment Thursday morning. To take his place on the roster, the Cubs promoted right-hander Gavin Hollowell from Iowa. He had 15 strikeouts and a 2.25 ERA in eight innings in Triple-A.
Over Martin’s last three outings, he had allowed eight base runners (four hits, four walks) and six earned runs while retiring just three batters.
Martin, whose career has been derailed by Tommy John surgery and an additional arm injury in which the tendon on his humerus was pulled violently off the bone and had to be surgically reattached, had signed a minor-league deal with the Cubs in January. He had one save for the Cubs.
Mr. Walkoff
With his bases-loaded walk in the 10th inning of Wednesday night’s 7-6 win over the Reds, Michael Busch became the fourth player in franchise history to be credited with a walkoff RBI in consecutive games. Busch singled home ghost runner Dansby Swanson with the winning run in the 10th inning of Tuesday night’s 3-2 win over the Reds.
Starlin Castro (2015), Ron Santo (1966) and Bob Will (1961) are the other Cubs to have accomplished the feat. Santo did it most dramatically with two extra-inning home runs: a 12th-inning, three-run homer off Ted Abernathy of the Braves on May 28, 1966, then a 10th-inning solo home run off Billy O’Dell the next afternoon.
Abernathy began the day in the home team’s clubhouse, but just before noon was traded to the Braves, and entered the game for his new team in the eighth.
Santo’s walkoff the next day came after Eddie Mathews of the Braves tied the score with a controversial inside-the-park home run in the ninth inning that led to the ejection of Cubs manager Leo Durocher.
