Cubs play it safe, put closer Morrow on DL
The Cubs put closer Brandon Morrow on the 10- day disabled list, retroactive to Sunday, with tightness in his lower back Wednesday. Right- hander Justin Hancock, who filled the 26th spot on the Cubs’ roster for the doubleheader Tuesday, will remain on the roster.
The move comes after Morrow, who has pitched in only one game since June 7, was noticeably absent from the Cubs’ 4- 3 loss to the Dodgers in the first game of the doubleheader.
After the game, Morrow said he was suffering from back spasms that came on when he was taking off his pants after the Cubs returned from their trip to St. Louis early Monday.
‘‘ Just undressing at my house,’’ Morrow, who has a 1.59 ERA and has converted 16 of 17 save chances, said Tuesday. ‘‘ Like 3 a. m., in the closet, got my right leg off. Left one just felt like a spasm in my back.’’
Manager Joe Maddon, who called Morrow’s injury ‘‘ one of those freakish things,’’ hinted the spasms might have been caused by dehydration. He also said the move to the DL needed to happen for the sake of the bullpen, which is also without setup man Carl Edwards Jr., who is also on the DL.
‘‘ We just can’t go with one less pitcher right now,’’ Maddon said before the Cubs played their third game in two days Wednesday. ‘‘ It’s for him, too. I don’t want him to go out there and pitch coming off of that right now, and there’s really no reason to rush it back. [ I] prefer him getting 100 percent well and getting back out there when it’s right.’’
General manager Jed Hoyer said putting Morrow on the DL ‘‘ made sense’’ so the Cubs could have a fuller bullpen, especially because they don’t have a day off until July 1.
‘‘ I don’t want to downplay anything,’’ Hoyer said. ‘‘ Obviously, he had back spasms. He had the same thing in spring training. We’re sort of treating it the same way we treated it in spring training. I think he was out for about a week to 10 days.
‘‘ We felt like it wasn’t going to be something where he was ready [ to pitch] this weekend.’’