Mechanics, health plague Merryweather
PITTSBURGH — Cubs reliever Julian Merryweather said his biggest struggle since coming back from the injured list has been finding his rhythm on the mound again. Physically, however, he’s not feeling fully like himself, either.
‘‘The body goes through ups and downs, as well,’’ he told the Sun-Times on Monday. ‘‘I think [Sunday against the Marlins] it was a little bit of both: mechanics not feeling right, body not feeling 100% there. And just trying to get to the bottom of it, trying to figure out exactly which one we’re going to be working on more right now.’’
After spending 3oe months on the IL for a stress fracture in a rib and being shut down from throwing for more than a month, it made sense that Merryweather would be rusty when he returned.
His outing against the Marlins, in which he allowed four runs and five hits in one inning, was his 11th since being activated. In his previous three appearances combined, he had thrown three scoreless innings and yielded only one hit.
‘‘I was getting on a little bit of a momentum roll there,’’ he said. ‘‘And then it’s one of those things where I thought I was feeling better than my body actually was. There weren’t really any warning signs for not feeling great that day. It just wasn’t exactly my day, and that definitely was amplified with the velo being down, as well.’’
Manager Craig Counsell also highlighted the drop in velocity after the game. Merryweather’s velocity has been down this season as a whole, but it took an extra dive Sunday, with his fastball coming in 2.3 mph slower and his slider down 1.4 mph from his season average.
‘‘He just hasn’t felt right this year, essentially,’’ Counsell said Monday. ‘‘And so you tend to experiment when you’re not feeling right, trying to find answers to it. And we just haven’t been able to find answers to that.’’
When he has felt right, Merryweather has been an important high-leverage arm, a role he settled into last season.
Since trading Mark Leiter Jr. and releasing Hector Neris, the Cubs have turned most often to rookie Porter Hodge and veteran Jorge Lopez — neither of whom began the season on the team — in high-leverage situations.
Scoring change
An official scoring change updated a strange series of events in the eighth inning of the Cubs’ 7-2 loss Sunday to the Marlins.
‘‘I’ve never seen that,’’ Counsell said after the game.
With no outs and runners on second and third, Merryweather intentionally walked Jesus Sanchez. Cristian Pache came in to pinch-run for him, but Sanchez turned around and headed to the dugout before reaching first base.
‘‘I didn’t really know the rule,’’ Counsell said, ‘‘but the fact that he didn’t touch first base just looked odd. So we made sure we appealed to make sure.’’
Merryweather already had turned his attention to the next batter and couldn’t make out what Counsell was saying after his conference with the plate umpire. But when Cody Bellinger put up his glove at first base, Merryweather caught on and threw over. The appeal was successful.
‘‘You don’t see that very often — an intentional walk turned into an out,’’ Merryweather said.
The scoring change wiped out the intentional walk altogether, gave Sanchez an at-bat and credited Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya with a putout. Pache’s entrance was recorded as a defensive replacement.
Injury update
Left-hander Jordan Wicks (strained right oblique) is scheduled to make another rehab start Friday after throwing 73 pitches in 4⅔ innings Sunday for Triple-A Iowa. It was his fourth start of this rehab stint.
‘‘Then we’re in September, and we’ll see what’s going on,’’ Counsell said Sunday.
Catcher Tomas Nido (right knee) has advanced to playing games in continuation camp at the Cubs’ complex in Mesa, Arizona, the team said.