As Hendricks steps in for ailing Steele, bats sputter vs. Skenes, Bucs

CHICAGO -- With the Cubs having pulled back into the hunt for a National League Wild Card spot, Justin Steele was forced to weigh how to handle the discomfort he was experiencing in his left elbow. While he had pitched through the issue for at least some of August, Steele did not want to face a breaking point.

“I’ve been able to do what I want to do, execute pitches and whatnot,” Steele said. “But it comes to a point where it’s like, ‘How long do you want to continue to pitch through something? How bad can it continue to get if you continue to do stuff?’”

Veteran Kyle Hendricks -- no stranger to late-season playoff pushes as Chicago’s lone remaining player from the 2016 World Series run -- stepped in for Steele on Tuesday night and pitched admirably in a 5-0 loss to the Pirates. Working opposite rookie phenom Paul Skenes, Hendricks gave five solid innings for the North Siders.

Complicating matters for the Cubs was the fact that both the Braves and Mets won on Tuesday night. With the loss to the Pirates, Chicago dropped to 4 1/2 games behind Atlanta for the third NL Wild Card seed, while New York remains a half-game back of the Braves. This defeat also snapped a streak of five consecutive series wins for the Cubs, who had not lost at least two straight games since Aug. 12-14.

"The last two days have been tough," Hendricks said. "But we've just got to wash it."

Cubs manager Craig Counsell said the team is “probably halfway” through the information-gathering process on Steele’s situation. Initial results of an MRI exam on Tuesday were positive (showing inflammation, but no structural damage, per Steele), but the Cubs are seeking more opinions before placing a ball in his left hand or putting him on the injured list.

“Justin wants to be out there,” Counsell said. “At the same time, we have to make the right decision for the players and we’re glad Justin said something. We want to get some answers and then, if the answers are, ‘This is going to go away quickly, or, ‘This is going to resolve,’ or, ‘You’re not at risk for hurting yourself,’ then we feel much better about going out there and pitching.”

The issue on this night was the fact that the Cubs’ offense, which has been on a strong run for a few weeks now, could not cash in on a pair of bases-loaded chances against Skenes in the opening two frames. The rookie threw 77 pitches through three innings, but locked things in and blanked Chicago over five.

It was just last week that the Cubs piled up 41 runs in a three-game sweep over the Pirates as part of an 8-1 road trip.

“We can’t expect our guys to score 10 runs a game,” said Hendricks, who allowed two runs in the third inning. “That was an unreal stretch. We’ve got to take advantage of it on the pitching side and just really put our foot down.”

Dating back to the start of August, the Cubs’ rotation spun a 3.71 ERA -- trailing only the Brewers (3.25 ERA) and Mets (3.58 ERA) in the National League -- heading into Tuesday’s action. That includes a 2.03 ERA in five starts in that stretch for Steele, who was an NL Cy Young contender a year ago and has backed it up with another strong season.

With the clock ticking on the regular season, Steele understands his importance as a leader and performer for a team trying to claw back into the October picture. He said it helped knowing Chicago had Hendricks ready behind the other rotation mainstays (Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad) and lefty Jordan Wicks recently back from the injured list.

“I want to be able to go out there and pitch and not feel anything,” said Steele, who has a 3.09 ERA through 22 starts this season. “Obviously, we’re in a tight situation with [contending for] the playoffs, so I want to get back on the mound as soon as possible.”

Steele is hoping to test things out Wednesday with light catch, which would help give the Cubs another bit of feedback to plan the next steps.

“We need him back out there,” Hendricks said. “We’ve been pitching so good, I think hopefully we can make up [for any time Steele misses]. But obviously we need him back and hopefully he can just keep going.”