Boyd, Cubs starters ready to 'step up and perform' in Steele's absence

LOS ANGELES -- Matthew Boyd walked off the mound at Dodger Stadium and headed straight to catcher Miguel Amaya, giving him a celebratory slap on the glove after inducing a flyout off the bat of Shohei Ohtani to end the fifth inning on Friday night.

Boyd had matched zeros with Dodgers righty Yohsinobu Yamamoto to that point and continued his strong opening act to his first season in the Cubs’ rotation. With uncertainty currently hanging over Justin Steele’s return from an elbow setback, having Boyd and Co. hold the line will be crucial in the coming weeks for Chicago.

“Justin Steele is one of a kind,” Boyd said after the 3-0 loss to the Dodgers. “Regardless of whatever the time is that he’s out -- whatever that may be -- you can’t replace Justin Steele. He’s one of one. He’s really talented. That being said, we have that next-man-up mentality and we have a very, very talented rotation.”

The Cubs are currently awaiting a second opinion on Steele, who landed on the 15-day injured list on Wednesday due to left elbow tendinitis. Sans Steele, the Cubs’ main four in the starting staff include Boyd, plus Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and Ben Brown. Colin Rea is in the bullpen, but offers another starting option.

The 34-year-old Boyd has spent parts of 11 seasons in the Majors and made an inspirational comeback from Tommy John surgery for Cleveland down the stretch last year. His impressive return convinced the Cubs to hand him a two-year, $29 million contract over the offseason and he has looked the part through three outings.

“He’s just done a great job of, obviously, just keeping hitters really off-balance.” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “The velocity differences with the fastball and the offspeed, they’re just challenging for the hitters, right? I think we’ve seen a lot of hitters just not super offensive-looking against him, and that’s a credit to what he’s doing.”

A prime example of Counsell’s insight arrived in the third inning, when Boyd started Ohtani off with a 93.9 mph fastball and then went to his slider twice. The lefty got three swings from the Dodgers superstar, who flailed at the 0-2 pitch that dove down sharply and eluded his barrel.

Boyd stretched his scoreless streak to begin this season to 16 frames and finished with a season-high 16 whiffs when the smoke cleared on his start. The main issue this evening was that Yamamoto (nine strikeouts and two hits allowed in six scoreless innings) was on top of his game, giving the Cubs’ offense (6.4 runs per game entering the night) absolute fits.

“I mean, it’s tough to score when a guy’s throwing like that,” Counsell said.

And that put Boyd’s few mistakes under the microscope.

A three-batter sequence in the sixth inning rendered the effectiveness of the rest of Boyd’s outing moot. Teoscar Hernández sent a changeup to left for a single, Boyd hit Freddie Freeman with a pitch and then Tommy Edman crushed a 1-0 changeup into the left-field seats to send Chicago on its way to the loss column.

“Everything’s been good for Matt,” Counsell said. “And he pitched as good tonight as he did the first two nights. He made a mistake and they made him pay for it. But the slider was good. The changeup was good. The fastball was on the corners. He’s throwing the ball really well.”

Through his first three appearances for the North Siders, Boyd has fashioned a 1.59 ERA with 17 strikeouts and 13 hits allowed in 17 innings. He had run through 67 batters -- from the D-backs, Padres and Dodgers’ lineups -- before allowing the homer to Edman.

Boyd’s pitch velocity has been up slightly across the board and he has found an effective mix between his fastball, slider and changeup, while also mixing in a handful of sinkers and curveballs.

During Spring Training, Taillon said he felt Boyd could be an “X factor” for the Cubs this season. So far, the results have been solid, and Chicago needs the entire group to keep producing consistently while Steele is on the shelf.

“We have a lot of experience,” Boyd said. “We also have a lot of young guys that are very talented. For however long Justin’s going to be down for, we have guys that can step up and perform in those roles. And we’re excited for that. With championship teams, that’s what has to happen. That’s what we’ll do.”