Michael Soroka nears return to the Cubs after rehabbing his shoulder injury

CHICAGO AP Michael Soroka is on his way back to the Chicago Cubs after being sidelined by a shoulder strain Soroka pitched innings of one-run ball in a rehab appearance with Triple-A Iowa on Thursday His fastball was clocked as high as mph a major improvement on his velocity right before his injury He ll be activated with us for his next outing manager Craig Counsell commented before Friday s championship against Tampa Bay We ll see on the date right now Soroka was acquired in a business deadline deal with Washington The right-hander started on Aug against Cincinnati and pitched two innings in his first appearance with Chicago before departing with his shoulder issue The -year-old Soroka is - with a ERA in starts this season but he could work out of the bullpen when he returns to the Cubs Counsell also revealed Daniel Palencia played catch before the series opener against the Rays The -year-old closer was placed on the -day injured list on Monday with a right shoulder strain It was like diagnostic catch maybe is the way to say it like let s play catch to see how it feels Counsell revealed We re hoping it feels good and then we can just keep moving forward Palencia is - with a ERA and a career-high saves in innings over appearances this year He pitched a total of innings in games over his first two years in the majors The Cubs also have All-Star right fielder Kyle Tucker on the IL with a left calf strain Counsell noted he doesn t think Tucker will be ready to be activated when he is eligible to return on Tuesday I think the symptomatic stuff is the running right now Counsell announced So we re on a bike We re hitting still throwing We re hoping to have a weekend of kind of no responses doing any of that And that ll lead us back onto the field And to the running and then go from there Cubs slugger Seiya Suzuki was out of the starting lineup against Tampa Bay because of an illness Rookie Mois s Ballesteros subbed for Suzuki as the designated hitter AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Source