Even on a rougher-than-usual day at the yard, Matthew Boyd was doing his All-Star thing.
The Cubs lefty gave up a three-run homer to the third batter he faced and lasted just five innings. But with the bats backing him up, he once more unleashed his wildly effective pickoff move, moving his franchise-record total to 11 on the season and keeping the visiting Rays at bay.
“I don’t want to call them free outs, because they’re stuff that Matt works on and he’s really good at it. … But they change innings,” manager Craig Counsell said after the game, a 6-4 Cubs win. “He’s done a great job with that. And he’s disguised them very well throughout the course of the year to continue getting outs, even though the other team knows he’s very good at it.”
Indeed, it continues to amaze that Boyd can keep nabbing base-runners at first, considering the book on him must include plenty of chapters acknowledging how dangerous he is to lead off against.
“I have a funky delivery,” Boyd said. “So the little bit of funk that adds to the deception [when I’m pitching] to the hitter, adds to the deception as a base-runner, as well. I’m sure those things are all adding in.
“If you can keep a guy closer, that’s great. If you get an out, it’s a bonus.”
There have been a lot of bonuses courtesy of Boyd, who’s not only continuing to wow with the pickoff move but making solid plays in the field with the glove.
It’s not the screaming headline of his All-Star season — that would be how effective he’s been as a pitcher; his ERA’s at 3.05 even after he allowed four runs Friday — but it’s part of how he’s made such a big impact on this team.
“His performance has been incredible, but I feel like his impact on the group has been a lot more than that,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said, “which is kind of hard for starting pitchers to do, they only play every five days. But his energy and his process, it’s really cool to watch and really contagious.”
Tuckered out
Right fielder Kyle Tucker is eligible to come off the injured list Tuesday, but that sounds unlikely to happen as he works his way back from a strained left calf.
Counsell said before Friday’s game that Tucker is bothered by the injury while running, though he’s been able to work out on a bike, hit and throw.
“We’re hoping to have a weekend of no symptoms doing any of that, and that’ll lead us back onto the field and to the running,” the skipper said, before adding that a Tuesday return from the IL is “unlikely right now.”
Tucker has been absent from the Cubs’ lineup since exiting the Sept. 2 game against the Braves. After the team hoped to avoid putting him on the injured list, he landed there Tuesday.
Suzuki sick, Soroka soon
Designated hitter Seiya Suzuki missed Friday’s game with an illness.
Meanwhile, righty pitcher Michael Soroka’s rehab outing Thursday went well enough that he will soon be activated and next pitch with the big league team, Counsell said.
Soroka threw 2⅓ innings with Triple-A Iowa, allowing a solo home run and striking out three of the eight batters he faced.
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