David Bote And Jon Lester Are Back
After being away from the Cubs for Tuesday’s series opener against the Dodgers, David Bote is back on the roster. The Cubs infielder was on the Paternity list.
Right-handed pitcher Alec Mills has been sent back down to Triple-A. He was called up before Sunday’s game, but wasn’t used in either of the last two games.
The other big news is that Jon Lester is coming back! The lefty will start Thursday against the Dodgers. That makes three left-handers in a row to go up against LA.
That sets up the rotation to be Kyle Hendricks, Yu Darvish and Jose Quintana for this weekend’s series on the road against the Diamondbacks.
Lester last pitched against the Pirates on April 8, when he strained his hamstring running the bases. He exited in the third inning.
The Cubs starting rotation has definitely stepped up in Lester’s absence.
That includes Cole Hamels, who has really only had one awful inning all season, coming in Texas in his first start. Since then, he’s been awesome and has a 2.77 ERA in 26 innings.
Hamels has only given up three earned runs in 21 innings over his last three starts.