Mills Exits with Apparent Back Injury, Heads to IL

After just facing two batters in yesterday’s start against the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Alec Mills left yesterday’s game with an apparent back injury.

Mills started the season on the IL with back and quad issues. However, he finally made his season debut on June 7 against the Baltimore Orioles. For the season, the righty has appeared in seven games and posted a 9.68 ERA with 11 strikeouts and 28 hits in 17.2 innings pitched.

After yesterday’s game Mills talked to NBC Sport’s Chicago about his injury. Mills addressed if his early exit was due to the same back issue he was dealing with earlier this year, and just his overall frustration about it.

“We’re not sure right now. It’s a very similar feeling, we’ll see how I bounce back tomorrow and figure it out,” Mills said. “It hasn’t been so well when I’m pitching, it feels like a collection of the season all came down to today.”

Unfortunately, it appears Mills isn’t feeling better. The Cubs announced that the righty is heading to the IL. Michael Rucker was recalled in his place.

On Saturday, in relief of Mills, Mark Leiter Jr. came in to pitch five-plus innings for the Cubs. In 5.1 innings of work, Leiter Jr. gave up only one run on three hits while striking out 5 with just 1 walk. Leiter Jr. helped lead the Cubs to a 3-1 victory over the Red Sox and take the series.

The Cubs will look for the sweep today when they face the Red Sox in the final game of the series at 1:20 CDT. Keegan Thompson will take the ball for the Cubs, with the Red Sox starter will be Connor Seabold.