LOS ANGELES — By the fourth inning Friday night, the Dodgers already had pinned a four spot on Cubs starter Jameson Taillon, with Will Smith’s three-run home run in the third the most damaging blow.
On a normal night, there almost surely would have been stirring in the Cubs’ bullpen, especially with the offense being held hostage by Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan, who struck out seven of the first Cubs batters.
But on this night, crickets.
It didn’t take NCIS: Los Angeles to uncover the reason why.
Before the game, the Cubs announced that left-handed reliever Caleb Thielbar was put on the 15-day injured list with a strained left hamstring. He becomes the ninth pitcher since the start of spring training to be lost to injury.
The roll call of the walking wounded: Shelby Miller (elbow), Jordan Wicks (elbow), Porter Hodge (elbow), Cade Horton (elbow), Phil Maton (knee), Hunter Harvey (triceps), Ethan Roberts (cut finger), Daniel Palencia (left oblique) and Thielbar.
On top of that, manager Craig Counsell used five relievers in the 8-7, 10-inning victory over the Phillies on Thursday.
There comes a time when you run out of bodies. This sure looked like a classic case of Taillon being asked to take one for the team.
“Injuries add up at some point, right?” Counsell said. “And we’ve lost a lot of bodies, and it’s hard when you’ve lost that many bodies, it gets hard to keep replacing them with the same quality, frankly, so the guys have done a great job.
“They’ve done a heck of a job,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘And frankly, we’ve got some tired guys right now as well, but they’re doing a heck of a job. And so we have not sacrificed any quality at this point. In my eyes, these guys have pitched great. It’s one of the reasons why we’ve been able to put together this nice run.”
Thielbar has been out twice before with hamstring issues, in 2022 and 2024 with the Twins. Initial indications, Counsell said, suggested that this injury was on the mild side and Thielbar wouldn’t need extra time beyond the minimum.
To Taillon’s credit, he gave the Cubs one more shutdown inning to keep his team within striking distance, the Cubs edging to within a run on Dansby Swanson’s two-run triple and Nico Hoerner’s single.
Left-hander Ryan Rolison replaced Taillon to start the bottom of the sixth
Roster shuffle
In addition to putting Thielbar on the injured list, the Cubs made a series of roster moves. Well-traveled Vince Velasquez, the 33-year-old right-hander invited to spring training on a minor-league deal, was promoted from the Iowa Cubs. Hodge was put on the 60-day injured list to create a spot for Velasquez. And infielder Nicky Lopez, who has twice been signed and released by the Cubs (he also has played for the White Sox), is back for another go-round. Scott Kingery, who made two errors playing third base, was designated for assignment to create a spot for Lopez.
