A tag that went wrong
Kevin Gausman had already given up the damage that mattered. Kyle Stowers turned on a fastball in the sixth inning at Wrigley Field and dropped a two-run homer into the seats, and Miami suddenly led Chicago 2-0. Two batters later, Gausman was the one wincing on the infield dirt.
Heriberto Hernandez walked. Griffin Conine grounded toward the right side, and Dansby Swanson’s throw to first got there a beat late. Hernandez broke for third as Michael Busch fired the ball back across the diamond to Gausman, who had sprinted over to cover the bag. He scooped it low, lunged to slap the tag on Hernandez, then stood up holding his shoulder. Craig Counsell was out of the dugout before the inning ended, and Javier Assad took the ball.
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The same shoulder, a different decade
Counsell kept his explanation simple: the non-throwing shoulder “got extended weird, and it just grabbed on him a little bit.” Gausman filled in the rest himself. “I dislocated the same shoulder in high school,” he said, adding that Thursday morning would tell him more than any diagnosis Wednesday night could. “I hope I wake up and feel great tomorrow, but you never know.”
He is 35, and Chicago has leaned on him hard since prying him away from Toronto last month. Nine starts in a Cubs uniform have produced a 4-2 record and a 4.83 ERA, on top of a 9-12, 4.51 mark across both stops this season. The Blue Jays portion of that ledger was rougher than the Cubs stretch, which is exactly why Chicago made the move in the first place.
No margin left in September
Chicago doesn’t have room to spare a starter right now. The Cubs need one more win to lock up an NL wild-card berth, and this is already their second straight shot at it slipping away late. Miami beat them in extra innings on Tuesday to push the clinching party back a day, and Wednesday’s homer from Stowers, plus the Gausman injury, made it two delays in a row.
Assad finished off the start Gausman couldn’t, and Chicago will need him or someone else in the rotation ready on short notice if the shoulder keeps the veteran out. Losing a starter of his experience, even for a turn through the rotation, is the kind of complication nobody in that clubhouse wanted with the calendar this tight.
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