{"id":201573,"date":"2026-04-18T05:10:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T05:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201573\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T05:10:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T05:10:22","slug":"chicago-cubs-offense-dazzles-in-12-4-win-over-new-york-mets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201573\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs offense dazzles in 12-4 win over New York Mets"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Cubs offense dazzled again as they helped rack up their third straight win on Friday, beating the New York Mets 12-4<\/a> at Wrigley Field.<\/p>\n

But the ever-growing list of injured pitchers claimed another name before the first pitch of the seven-game homestand was even thrown \u2014 and that came on the heels of a worst-case scenario for their young pitching phenom.<\/p>\n

The Cubs placed closer Daniel Palencia on the 15-day injured list<\/a> with a left oblique strain less than an hour before the Cubs faced the Mets. The Cubs did not make a corresponding move, but manager Craig Counsell expected to have an arm up for Saturday\u2019s matinee against New York.<\/p>\n

The right-hander became the 10th pitcher on the 40-man roster to be placed on the injured list. That doesn\u2019t include top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins, who was placed on the minor-league seven-day IL earlier in the week with right elbow inflammation after two appearances with Triple-A Iowa.<\/p>\n

Palencia threw a bullpen session Friday morning, just two days after he first felt pain in the oblique while playing catch in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bullpen, I feel awesome, I threw 96, 95 (mph),\u201d Palencia said. \u201cIt\u2019s just I (felt) something doing my conditioning, so I want to be smart with that and don\u2019t want to push it too much. I don\u2019t want to lose too much time. It\u2019s just that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago Cubs starting pitcher Edward Cabrera celebrates after finishing off the New York Mets in the sixth inning of a game at Wrigley Field in Chicago on April 17, 2026. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Friday morning, Counsell announced right-hander Cade Horton<\/a> underwent ulnar collateral ligament revision surgery by Dr. Keith Meister, along with receiving an internal brace, which means he\u2019ll be out for 15 to 16 months. There was some optimism that Horton would only need the internal brace, which would have put the timeline at around 12 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when something like this happens, the only thing you can do is kind of worry about what\u2019s next,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cYou put your head on some big timeframe, and that\u2019s not very helpful. Cade, we talked about just worrying about today and make today the best you can and just keep doing that, and that\u2019s how you, somehow, speed this process along a little. You get too far ahead of yourself, it\u2019s certainly a long recovery, and that doesn\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horton exited his second start of the year in Cleveland on April 3 and was placed on the IL the next day. The Cubs\u2019 opening-day starter, Matthew Boyd<\/a>, landed on the 15-day IL two days later with a left biceps strain. Those injuries compounded a rotation that was already without Justin Steele, who is recovering from elbow surgery last season and is expected back early in the summer, and depth option Jordan Wicks, who is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with Iowa on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Boyd pitched in a rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa on Thursday, allowing three runs on four hits in 3 2\/3 innings. Both he and Counsell hope he can start on Wednesday against the Philadelphia Phillies.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything feels normal for a day after I pitched,\u201d Boyd said before Friday\u2019s game. \u201cExcited for Wednesday, and we\u2019ll just build toward that each day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palencia\u2019s injury is the latest to another arm that figured to be a key leverage piece for Counsell.<\/p>\n

Right-hander Phil Maton<\/a> landed on the 15-day IL on April 8 and is scheduled to throw what Counsell called a \u201cdiagnostic bullpen\u201d on Saturday. Right-hander Hunter Harvey hasn\u2019t thrown since he landed on the IL on April 9.<\/p>\n

The reliever corps also lost Ethan Roberts<\/a> earlier in the week in a freak accident while working out, in which he cut his right middle finger. Right-hander Porter Hodge<\/a> is set to undergo season-ending elbow surgery next week after starting the year on the IL.<\/p>\n

Photos: Chicago Cubs 12, New York Mets 4<\/a><\/p>\n

That leaves only right-hander Jacob Webb and left-handers Hoby Milner and Caleb Thielbar as veteran relievers for Counsell. That trio has a combined 13 saves across 1,052 major-league games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to really have to go in-game and really just think about it during the games,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cI think it\u2019s challenging. It\u2019s going to be different for sure because guys are going to be in different spots than they\u2019re accustomed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

It creates opportunities for young arms, like rookie Riley Martin<\/a>, who pitched a scoreless seventh inning on Friday. He has pitched 5 1\/3 scoreless innings in his first five appearances and opened eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said this a couple times already, but Riley\u2019s taking advantage of that opportunity and doing something with it,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cWhen you miss, right now three guys that we were counting on pretty heavily at the end of the game, it\u2019s going to change usage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edward Cabrera turned in a quality start on Friday, allowing three runs on eight hits in six innings of work. He is under the microscope even more after the offseason blockbuster trade the Cubs pulled to acquire him. Still, Counsell said he won\u2019t push Cabrera or any other starter just to relieve his bullpen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s a mistake to do that,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cI think a hitter, maybe, but we\u2019ve got to keep those guys healthy as well. (At) the end of a starter\u2019s outing, they\u2019re fatigued, and we got to make sure we do the right thing by them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andy Martinez is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Cubs offense dazzled again as they helped rack up their third straight win on Friday, beating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[79932,17705,79933,44869,79934,48354,9,11,320,10,79935,79936,79871],"class_list":{"0":"post-201573","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-cade-horton","9":"tag-chicago-cubs","10":"tag-daniel-palencia","11":"tag-edward-cabrera","12":"tag-matthew-boyd","13":"tag-mlb-baseball","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-headlines","16":"tag-new-york-mets","17":"tag-new-york-news","18":"tag-phil-maton","19":"tag-riley-martin","20":"tag-wrigley-field"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}