Injured players improving
CINCINNATI — One of the main goals for the Cubs during the last six weeks of the regular season is to get healthy again, and they’re slowly getting closer to that goal.
Right-hander Adbert Alzolay and catcher Willson Contreras played catch before the game Monday against the Reds. It was the first baseball activity for Alzolay since he landed on the 10-day injured list with a strained left hamstring.
‘‘[Adbert] feels good,’’ manager David Ross said. ‘‘He’s gonna work his way back, and the trainers are on top of that. He’s just moving around. Doesn’t seem like it was anything very serious, and it feels good.’’
Contreras did some agility work before the game under the watch of the Cubs’ training staff. He has been on the IL with a sprained right knee.
Infielder Nico Hoerner (strained right oblique) has been traveling with the team as he works his way back to 100%. Hoerner has been adding in more baseball activities, taking ground balls and hitting in the cage before the game.
Hoerner has had a challenging second season with the Cubs. While he has produced when he has been on the field, he also has been on the IL three times.
Cubs-Reds at ‘Field of Dreams’ in ’22
The Cubs reportedly will face the Reds in the ‘‘Field of Dreams’’ game next season in Dyersville, Iowa. The game tentatively is scheduled for Aug. 11, 2022, and will be considered a Reds home game.
Major League Baseball announced the game would return in 2022, even before the wildly popular Yankees-White Sox game took place last Thursday. That game was the most-watched regular-season baseball game on Fox in 16 years.
Thompson inching closer
Right-hander Keegan Thompson has been getting stretched out at Triple-A Iowa as he prepares to return to the Cubs as a starter. He made his fourth start Sunday since being sent down and was dominant, not allowing a hit and striking out seven in 4„ innings.
‘‘I think that Keegan has proved he can pitch at the big-league level,’’ Ross said. ‘‘Now it’s about sustaining that over the course of four, five and six innings. That’s why you get stretched out, to see how that stuff plays.’’