From Excitement To Fear: Cashner Leaves Game

Today was suppose to be the day that we saw a glimpse of the future. For the most part, the future was on display in the form of starting pitcher Andrew Cashner. Cashner made his first major league start today against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and managed to make fans giddy about what the future has in store for the 24-year old starting pitcher. Cashner pitched into the sixth inning today giving up 1 run on two hits and one walk while striking out two. However the excitement over how well Cashner was pitching quickly turned into fear during the sixth inning.

After walking Willie Bloomquist in the sixth inning, Cashner was visited by trainer Mark O’Neil and manager Mike Quade. That would mark the end of Cashner’s day, as he was left the field with the Cubs’ trainer. Now a lot of times fans tend to overreact to injuries this early in the season, as most injuries that occur around this time are cramp-related. Unfortunately, that is not the case with Andrew Cashner. Shortly after Cashner left the game, the Cubs issued a statement saying that Cashner had been pulled with shoulder tightness. Obviously, not much is known about the injury right now as Cashner is undergoing more tests and hopefully there will be an update after the game.

However, it is never an encouraging sign for a pitcher to be pulled from a game because of shoulder tightness. It is hard to speculate on the severity of the injury. It could be nothing considering that Cashner was not completely stretched out this Spring Training and is converting from being a reliever, or it could be more serious than that. With an off day looming, the Cubs will probably opt to skip Cashner’s next start in rotation which would be April 11th in Houston.

Bottom line is that there is simply not enough information available to comment on the injury, this post will be updated as soon as there is more news to share on Cashner’s apparent injury.