TORONTO — Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya hobbled around on crutches, keeping the walking boot on his left leg off the ground as he navigated the visitors’ dugout at Rogers Centre.
“It’s frustrating coming off the IL and then things like this happen,” Amaya said Thursday after being carted off the field the night before with a sprained left ankle. “All I want to do is be on the field and help the team win.”
Amaya already had missed 2œ months with a strained left oblique he suffered throwing to second base in a game against the Reds. The game Wednesday was Amaya’s first since coming off the injured list and his 28th of the season.
The Cubs don’t have a timeline for Amaya’s return from the injured list. His X-rays came back negative Wednesday night. He said he had not undergone further imaging as of Thursday afternoon.
“It’s very swollen,” Amaya said. “I’ve been getting treatment since this morning. . . . Hopefully the swelling goes down. We’ll see how it reacts in the next couple of days.”
Amaya hurt his ankle beating out an infield single and hitting first base awkwardly. He was on the ground in pain as Cubs trainers and manager Craig Counsell ran out of the nearby dugout to check on him.
Miguel Amaya was playing in his first game since coming off the IL. pic.twitter.com/tdjLJmaSrW
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) August 14, 2025
“You’re hoping . . . that just kind of scared him,” Counsell said Wednesday night. “But it was pretty clear after 20 seconds that he either sprained it or worse. You knew something was pretty seriously wrong pretty quickly.”
Amaya’s single, his first hit since returning from the 60-day IL, set up the Cubs for a two-run eighth inning en route to a 4-1 victory Wednesday.
“As a baseball player, doing this since I was born, I’ve been playing the game hard,” Amaya said. “Sad that it happened, but I’m always leaving everything on the field for my team.”
Crow-Armstrong out of lineup
Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong was out of the lineup in the midst of a 2-for-38 stretch in his last 10 games.
Even though he went hitless in four plate appearances Wednesday, Crow-Armstrong’s at-bats showed some promising signs. He put the ball in play in the air three times, including a scorched line drive in his first at-bat.
“I don’t digest it well, only because it feels like I just continue to miss opportunities,” Crow-Armstrong told the Sun-Times. “I was just late on the heater. And I’ve been late on the heater for a while now. And I think it’s really just as simple as that.”
Utility man Willi Castro started in center field. Seiya Suzuki also was out of the lineup; Owen Caissie was the designated hitter in his major-league debut.
Birdsell elbow injury
Cubs No. 9 prospect Brandon Birdsell is set to be examined by Dr. Keith Meister after hurting his elbow in a start last week, Cubs assistant general manager Jared Banner said.
Birdsell was invited to major-league spring training this year but was sidelined by a Grade 1 lat strain. He didn’t begin pitching in games until mid-June on rehab assignments in the Arizona Complex League and Single-A. The Iowa Cubs activated him in mid-July.
In four Triple-A starts, Birdsell had a 3.38 ERA.
