Porter Hodge, who has had several bad outings recently including Friday night’s disaster, was optioned to Triple-A Iowa Saturday and left-hander Jordan Wicks was recalled.

In six appearances with the Cubs this season, Wicks has suffered one loss with an 8.71 ERA and eight strikeouts. In his previous stint with the Cubs, he threw two innings, allowing one run, on Aug. 26 and 27.

It seems likely that Wicks is simply a bullpen placeholder until Daniel Palencia is ready to return. Palencia is scheduled to have a rehab outing at Iowa tonight and if that goes well, perhaps Palencia can rejoin the Cubs at home next week.

as always, we await developments. Today’s game preview will post at 3:30 p.m. CT.

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