David Banks- USA Today
Matt Garza made his first start of the 2013 season on Wednesday night.
Unfortunately, it was for the Double-A Tennessee Smokies and not the Chicago Cubs. Garza pitched 2.2 innings, throwing 42 pitches (his limit was 45) and allowed one run on one hit and two walks. He did not strike anybody out.
It is just nice to see Garza out on the hill as he has not pitched in a game since last July, and it appears as if he will be back for the Cubs sooner rather than later. The right-hander will probably have two or three more rehab starts, but those will be announced at a later date.
There is a limit that players can be down in the minors making rehab starts and for pitchers, it is 25 days. Barring any setbacks, we can expect to see Garza back in Cubs manager Dale Sveum‘s rotation at some point later this month.
With the Cubs starting staff performing at an elite level save for Edwin Jackson, it should be very interesting to see who gets the boot when Garza returns. But, that is a problem they will have to deal with when it arrives. For a team that has some very obvious holes at a number of positions, having too much viable starting pitching to go to is definitely not a bad thing.
Daniel Schmelzer is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @D_Schmelzer, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
