MILWAUKEE — Already facing a gamut of issues with their depleted pitching staff, the Chicago Cubs expect lefty reliever Hoby Milner to be sidelined four to six weeks after a case of appendicitis brought him into a local hospital.Milner, one of the most reliable members of Chicago’s bullpen, had previously pitched four seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, the first-place team the Cubs are again chasing.“He woke up in the middle of the night and had major stomach pain,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said during Saturday’s pregame media briefing. “Actually Uber-ed himself to the emergency room and then had surgery this morning.”That afternoon, David Peterson sat by himself at a circular table inside American Family Field’s visiting clubhouse, preparing for his first start as a Cub, studying the opponent with an electronic tablet and a yellow legal pad.Forget about the analytics, the matchups or the gut instincts. At this point, so many of Counsell’s strategic decisions simply revolve around one question: Who’s available?Milner is now the 12th Cubs pitcher on the injured list, which includes five of the club’s top seven projected starters and four relievers who were supposed to form the high-leverage group. The onslaught of injuries had already motivated Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer to finalize the Peterson trade with the New York Mets after Wednesday’s Citi Field doubleheader sweep, which further taxed the pitching staff.Ian Happ’s three-run home run in the sixth gave the Cubs a 6-2 lead over the Brewers. (Michael McLoone / Imagn Images)“The cumulative effect is you just start running out of pitchers in your organization that are ready to go,” Counsell said. “We have, obviously, bodies. But the quality has to go down. We don’t have that big of a stockpile. I don’t think anybody does. So we’re going to have to get through it. We’ll keep looking for guys that can do the job.”Peterson was talented enough to get selected in the first round of the 2017 draft, and his determination got him a start in the 2024 National League Championship Series and into last year’s All-Star Game. But the 6-foot-6 lefty had a 6.09 ERA and struggled to hold down a spot in the Mets’ rotation as their 2026 season spiraled out of control.Much of the post-trade analysis from Cubs officials revolved around Peterson’s ability to generate groundballs, a skill that should be accentuated by Chicago’s multitude of Gold Glove defenders.Then Jackson Chourio, Milwaukee’s leadoff hitter, blasted Peterson’s first pitch as a Cub some 400 feet off the top of the center-field wall for a home run in front of another sellout crowd.Peterson, though, shook it off and displayed focus and professionalism, allowing only one more run while pitching into the sixth inning of an 8-2 victory. He recorded 17 outs and did not walk any of the 20 batters he faced, bringing some of the competence and stability that the Cubs, at times, have lacked.“Obviously, not how I wanted to start, but give me another ball and see how it goes,” Peterson said. “I just stuck to my approach and continued to fill the zone up. You try to get ahead of guys, get some of that contact on the ground, some of that weak contact. It happens every now and then where a guy is kind of on the first pitch. A lot of credit to our offense, they just kept putting pressure on those guys until they cracked.”With five weeks remaining until the Aug. 3 trade deadline, the Cubs will have to hit more home runs and lean on their offense. Counsell did not sound particularly optimistic that Hoyer’s front office will jump the market, viewing the Peterson trade as a unique confluence of events. As Counsell pointed out, Hoyer said his initial conversations with Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns about the deal stretched back six weeks.“Look around the league, acquisitions don’t happen every day,” Counsell said. “They happen on waivers, maybe, every day. That’s about it.”After Saturday’s win, which left the Cubs 6 1/2 games behind the Brewers in the NL Central, the club announced that lefty Ryan Rolison will be used as an opener in Sunday’s series finale. But under these circumstances, the Cubs (45-38) aren’t focused on the division race or the wild-card standings. They’re in survival mode.“This is another series in the long journey that is the season,” said Cubs outfielder Ian Happ, who hit a game-changing, three-run homer off Milwaukee swingman Chad Patrick. “Once we leave (Sunday), they’re going to play another 75-80 games, and so are we. We’re weathering the storm here through a bunch of injuries.”Jun 28, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms