It’s hard to be a contender without a closer.
But that’s the situation the Cubs might find themselves in after a ninth-inning disaster in their 6-3 loss Sunday to the Nationals. Closer Daniel Palencia left the game with a shoulder injury after coughing up a 3-1 lead.
After the game, manager Craig Counsell said that Palencia ‘‘felt some tightness in the posterior right shoulder’’ and that the Cubs will evaluate him further in the coming days. But the sight of Palencia walking through the dugout with his right arm hanging at his side was the opposite of encouraging.
Counsell said this injury isn’t entirely new for Palencia, who had a ‘‘very small incident a couple of months ago’’ that only required a day’s worth of recovery. He said Palencia ‘‘has been good ever since’’ before the pitch that knocked him out of the game Sunday.
‘‘He’s done a great job for us all year,’’ said catcher Carson Kelly, who homered twice. ‘‘Especially for a young guy coming in and handling those late innings, it’s really important. He’s been great for us all year, and hopefully . . . he’s good to go here in the next day or so.’’
Of course, the questions don’t stem from the injury alone. That Palencia was booed loudly after facing five hitters and failing to get an out shows the Cubs might find themselves in a closer quandary whether he is healthy or not.
Palencia has been sensational for much of the season and had a pencil-thin 1.36 ERA after his first appearance in August. But he has allowed 11 runs in his last 13 trips to the mound, and his ERA during that stretch is a hideous 9.58 after all five batters he faced Sunday ended up crossing home plate.
He wasn’t just scored on, either. He was hammered by the Nationals, giving up a pair of homers — including a game-changing, three-run blast to pinch hitter Josh Bell — and a triple before departing. The Nationals were plenty ready for the triple-digit gas that has made Palencia a critical part of the Cubs’ success this season.
‘‘He left some pitches over the good part of the plate and they took some good swings, simple as that,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘He put some pitches in a place where they took good swings. They’re prepared for that. Their job is to prepare for that. They beat him today.’’
The weekend went down as a poor showing for the Cubs, who followed up a four-homer day Friday with minimal offense Saturday and Sunday, outscored 8-4 in back-to-back losses to one of the worst teams in the majors. Certainly, the threat of being without a closer isn’t the Cubs’ lone issue at the moment.
Still, the Cubs have one of the best records in the majors, and the questions swirling around them aren’t about how they’ll make it to October but how long their season will last once they get there.
If Palencia misses time — and the Cubs weren’t ready to go there in the immediate moments after the game — Counsell has a big task on his hands in trying to find a replacement in the final weeks of the regular season to head into the postseason with some confidence in his next ninth-inning option.
The Cubs’ bullpen as a whole hasn’t been nearly as good after the All-Star break (4.73 ERA) as it was before (3.54 ERA), but Counsell could turn to late-inning arms such as Brad Keller, Caleb Thielbar and Andrew Kittredge to pitch in the same kinds of high-leverage spots they’ve thrived in to this point.
The closer-by-committee approach is rarely how championship clubs draw things up. But in the era of increased bullpen mixing and matching, which ratchets up in intensity come playoff time, it wouldn’t exactly be shocking for these Cubs or any other team.
‘‘We’ll regroup on that,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘That’s not as important as figuring out what’s going on with Danny right now. We’ve got to get 27 outs, and we’ll figure out how to get 27 outs. If it’s without Danny, it’ll look a little different.’’