Right-hander Aaron Civale was a player the Cubs discussed at the trade deadline at the end of July, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said.
‘‘I think we’re in good position,’’ Hoyer said Monday of the Cubs’ pitching. ‘‘But I also feel like adding innings is always valuable when you know you’re getting into this position where guys have a tendency to get tired and you may want to give guys a little bit of rest.’’
The Cubs claimed Civale off waivers Sunday from the White Sox, and he reported to the North Side for their 7-6 victory in 10 innings against the Braves.
His debut with the Cubs — and the first regular-season relief appearance of his career — was key to the team’s comeback.
Civale held the Braves to one hit in three scoreless innings, giving the Cubs enough time to wipe out a four-run deficit and tie the score on catcher Carson Kelly’s two-run home run in the eighth, his first homer since July 21. Kelly later won the game with a walk-off single in the 10th.
‘‘From a behind-the-plate perspective, I thought he led me pretty well,’’ Civale said of Kelly. ‘‘Kept the whole team in the game catching those extra innings, those tight situations at the end of the game. . . . Just to have competitive at-bats out of your catcher is great, and then to do what he did is icing on the cake.’’
Civale is expected to pitch in relief down the stretch, but the fact that he was stretched out to a starter’s workload attracted the Cubs.
The Cubs are Civale’s third team this season. He began the season with the Brewers, but he asked for a trade when they decided to move him to the bullpen after five starts.
The Brewers found him a spot with the Sox, for whom he made 13 more starts. That included five scoreless innings against the Cubs in late July.
‘‘There’s definitely both [challenges and advantages],’’ Civale said when asked about switching organizations twice in a season. ‘‘First one is meeting so many different people [and] trying to remember names, different places that you’re preparing for the game and different thought processes.
‘‘There’s a lot of different ideas. There’s things to bounce off of. There’s guys in this clubhouse that I’ve been playing with for a really long time, both in this clubhouse and other clubhouses. So it’s just another place to try and learn more about yourself and another chance to help out a team.’’
Alcantara call-up might affect PCA
In addition to adding Civale and first baseman Carlos Santana to the roster, which expanded by two spots for September, the Cubs called up outfielder Kevin Alcantara from Triple-A Iowa and optioned outfielder Owen Caissie to Iowa.
This is Alcantara’s first stint in the majors this season after he got his first taste of the big leagues last September.
Hoyer and manager Craig Counsell confirmed Alcantara might get playing time in center field against left-handed pitchers, giving Pete Crow-Armstrong some rest.
‘‘You want him fresh and playing well,’’ Hoyer said of Crow-Armstrong. ‘‘So that was the mindset.’’
Crow-Armstrong has played in 135 of the Cubs’ 138 games. After an MVP-level start to the season, he slumped to a .446 OPS in August. On Monday, he went 1-for-4 with a bunt single and stole a hit from the Braves’ Ozzie Albies with a sliding catch on the warning track in the seventh.