Yu Darvish was supposed to start Thursday’s game against the Rangers, but he was scratched due to the flu along with second baseman Jason Kipnis. Anthony Rizzo was also pulled at the last second because of a blister on his finger.

In Darvish’s place, James Norwood got the start with Jeremy Jeffress, Dillon Maples and Jason Adam following in relief.

Maples and Adam both committed throwing errors that led to 4 unearned runs as the Cubs fell to the Rangers 5-0 at Sloan Park. 

Here were the highlights from the afternoon:

• Jeffress and Maples induced some awkward-looking swings in their respective innings of work.
• Steven Souza Jr. was mic’d up and received some valuable advice from Kris Bryant on how to deal with the added attention.
• For one day, Javy Baez got a taste of his own medicine as the Rangers did their best El Mago impression on a Baez grounder in the third inning.

More reading:

• Foresight is 2020: How will second base shake out for the Cubs?
• A ‘different’ kind of offseason for Kyle Hendricks