With two starting pitchers already on the disabled list, Chicago Cubs manager Mike Quade will turn to his bullpen rather than risk further injury to Matt Garza.
Elbow stiffness will cause Garza to miss Sunday night's start as the Cubs finish a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.After consulting team physicians, Quade and Garza decided Saturday against risking injury to the right-hander's elbow. Randy Wells (forearm strain) and Andrew Cashner (rotator-cuff strain) each went down in early April with injuries, making Quade more wary of putting Garza on the mound for the Cubs (20-24)."We've got to be careful with this guy," the manager said.Garza is expected to be observed Monday in Chicago."I haven't missed a start for anything," Garza told the team's official website. "This is a first. It stinks. I feel like I let my team down. I have to look at the big picture. What if it gets worse? What if I damage something?"Quade instead will go with multiple bullpen arms Sunday, likening the situation to a spring training game. Left-hander James Russell (1-4, 6.26 ERA) likely will make the spot start after not pitching in Saturday's 9-3 victory. He pitched three scoreless innings of relief in Friday's 15-5 defeat.However, Russell has been dreadful in four starts this season, going 0-4 with a 10.05 ERA and never lasting through the fifth inning.The Red Sox (24-21) look to take advantage of the Cubs' pitching situation and rebound after having their seven-game winning streak snapped Saturday.Boston allowed eight runs in the eighth inning, when it committed three costly errors to help turn a two-run lead into a lopsided loss."You give up a lead and it's always frustrating," said shortstop Jed Lowrie, who dropped a shallow fly ball off the heel of his glove.David Ortiz's two-run home run in the third inning was his 300th with the Red Sox and seventh this May.Boston will also send a spot starter of sorts to the mound in Tim Wakefield (0-1, 5.40 ERA), who will make his third start of 2011, to go with eight relief appearances.The 44-year-old knuckleballer lost his last start May 6, allowing eight runs -- six earned -- in 4 1/3 innings of a 9-2 loss to Minnesota.Wakefield is 3-1 with a 3.81 ERA in five career starts against the Cubs, but only one has come more recently than 1993. He won the finale of the first interleague series between the teams, allowing one run in seven innings of Boston's 8-1 victory at Wrigley Field on June 12, 2005.Marlon Byrd, who is 4 for 8 lifetime against Wakefield, likely won't play Sunday. He was hit with a pitch just below the eye in the second inning Saturday and taken to a local hospital, where he was expected to stay overnight."This is not a pitcher's arm that's a little sore," Quade said. "This is serious stuff."Reed Johnson replaced Byrd in center field and went 1 for 4 with a two-run double to give Chicago the lead. Johnson is 2 for 18 with seven strikeouts against Wakefield.

CHICAGO CUBS (7U)