Chicago Cubs reliever Carl Edwards Jr. was removed from Game 4 of the National League Championship Series with hamstring tightness, per Carrie Muskat of MLB.com.
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Cubs Lose Key Bullpen Piece
Thursday, Oct. 20
The 25-year-old pitcher came in for the seventh inning but only faced three batters, earning two outs before walking Corey Seager. After the walk, he was replaced by Travis Wood.
Edwards has pitched three innings so far in the postseason, allowing zero runs and only one hit.
In his first real work at the major league level this season, the young pitcher posted a 3.75 ERA in 36 innings. More impressively, he had a 0.81 WHIP to go with 52 strikeouts in this span for a rate of 13 per nine innings.
He had a couple of bad games down the stretch, leading to a 6.00 ERA in August and 5.79 ERA in September, but he has turned things around in the playoffs, becoming one of the most reliable relievers in the Cubs bullpen.
If he is forced to miss time, it creates more question marks for a unit that already featured plenty of doubts.
Aroldis Chapman will still be asked to close out games, but pitchers like Pedro Strop, Justin Grimm and Hector Rondon will likely have to take on bigger roles for the remainder of the series.
While the Cubs have one of the better starting rotations in baseball, they will need the bullpen to step up to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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