Chicago Cubs center fielder Cody Bellinger suffered a fractured rib during Tuesday’s game at Wrigley Field and is headed to the injured list.
Manager Craig Counsell revealed the injury Wednesday during his weekly appearance on the “Parkins & Spiegel Show” on WSCR-AM 670, the Cubs’ flagship station. Counsell did not say how long Bellinger will be out.
Outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong was promoted from Triple-A Iowa to take Bellinger’s roster spot. Crow-Armstrong, the organization’s top prospect, was not in the starting lineup Wednesday for Game 2 of the Houston Astros series.
Bellinger, 28, left the Cubs’ 7-2 victory against the Astros before the seventh inning. He suffered the injury in the top of the fourth, crashing into the wall while trying to catch a Yainer Diaz RBI double.
X-rays were negative, and the Cubs labeled the injury as a right rib bruise. Bellinger said postgame that he was encouraged by how he felt, describing the dull pain as a good sign.
That tune changed Wednesday.
Bellinger joins five other Cubs on the IL: ace Justin Steele (hamstring), starter Kyle Hendricks (back), relievers Julian Merryweather (rib stress fracture) and Drew Smyly (hip) and right fielder Seiya Suzuki (oblique). Starter Jameson Taillon and slugger Patrick Wisdom were out for the first three weeks of the season recovering from injuries.
Bellinger missed 26 games last season after jumping at the right-center-field wall against the Astros on May 15 in Houston. He suffered a left knee bruise when he came down on the padded lip of the wall cutout after making the catch and then hyperextended his leg on the landing.
