Cubs' Stroman set to return Thursday: 'We've missed him' originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
For as well as the Cubs’ starting rotation has fared of late, it’s about to receive a big boost in the form of Marcus Stroman.
Stroman is set to rejoin the rotation Thursday and start against the Diamondbacks.
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“We’ve missed him, that's for sure,” Cubs manager David Ross said Wednesday.
Stroman landed on the injured list with no designation, a move indicating a relation to COVID-19, on May 8. He was scratched from his scheduled start that night against the Dodgers.
His last outing came May 1 in Milwaukee, when he went toe-to-toe with reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes as the Cubs beat the Brewers 2-0.
Stroman threw seven shutout innings, allowing two hits and a walk, in his best start with the Cubs.
“I thought he was throwing the ball as good as anybody before he went down,” Ross said. “It's nice to be able to get him back in the fold.”
Not only did Stroman toss his best start this season the last time he took the bump, but the Cubs’ rotation has been trending upward of late — coinciding with a strong stretch for the team, to no surprise.
The Cubs are 6-2 over their last eight games, entering Wednesday. The rotation holds a 2.18 ERA with three quality starts over that stretch, most recently Wade Miley’s seven shutout innings on Monday — his second start of the season.
They only had three quality starts in their first 27 games.
Furthermore, the rotation the Cubs put together over the offseason is finally coming to fruition, not to mention the entire pitching staff. The Cubs activated de facto closer David Robertson off the IL (no designation) Wednesday.
“I think this is a version of our rotation that we felt it was going to look like coming out of spring training,” Ross said. “It’s just now finally all coming together.
“I think that's exciting from my seat.”
Stroman’s return pushes Kyle Hendricks’ turn in the rotation back a day, giving him a fifth day of rest before his scheduled Friday outing.
Hendricks said having an extra day “doesn’t hurt.”
“With him coming back in the rotation, him being out, we want to obviously get him back on schedule,” Hendricks said of Stroman.
“He's our big guy. We want him to just get back in the routine, get back on every fifth day like that, get our rotation and create that consistency that we've been looking for.”
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