The Cubs made a pair of roster moves to replenish their beleaguered bullpen.

The team recalled righty Hayden Wesneski from Triple-A and selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Colten Brewer. The Cubs optioned righty Daniel Palencia and lefty Luke Little to Triple-A to clear spots on the active roster for Wesneski and Brewer. Julian Merryweather was transferred to the 60-day IL to make room for Brewer on the 40-man roster.

The Cubs’ reliever corps has been taxed the last few days — they’ve covered 20.2 innings over the last 4 games and 9.2 innings in the series in Arizona, playing extra-inning games in both contests against the Diamondbacks.

“Well, largely today was we just need innings for the game today,” manager Craig Counsell told reporters before the series finale. “I think both teams, you saw, are making moves … We’ve got obviously some moves coming up tomorrow, probably as well.

“We need just healthy bodies for the game. We need to get some guys some rest and so had to make a couple moves today with Luke Little and Daniel Palencia [going down] and bringing Hayden Wesneski and Colton Brewer [up].”

The team was likely to be down a handful of relievers in Wednesday’s finale against Arizona. Drew Smyly and Little have pitched on consecutive days and Palencia threw 29 pitches in an inning-plus of work, meaning that trio was likely not available Wednesday. Yency Almonte, Mark Leiter Jr. and Adbert Alzolay all pitched in three of the last four games for the Cubs, so  Counsell was likely to avoid them, too.

That left Héctor Neris and Keegan Thompson as rested options for Wednesday and even so, Neris had one day off after pitching three straight games and Thompson pitched 2 innings in Monday’s win.

Adding Wesneski, who’s been stretched out as a starter and Brewer, who has been pitching out of the I-Cubs’ bullpen this season, gives Counsell a few fresh options to call upon.

Wesneski was scheduled to start Thursday’s game for Iowa. He has a 2.53 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 10.2 innings across 3 games (2 starts) this season. In his last outing on April 12, Wesneski allowed 3 hits in 4.1 innings with 4 strikeouts and a walk, piggybacking off Jameson Taillon.

Wesneski was being stretched out as a starter with the hope of giving the Cubs some starter depth. Now, he’ll be tasked with providing coverage just 17 games into the season.

Brewer is an interesting option for Counsell. He has big-league experience in parts of 5 seasons, posting a 4.98 ERA in 84 games with the Padres, Red Sox and Yankees. He appeared in 3 games with New York last season, posting a 4.32 ERA in 8.1 innings.

The 31-year-old was signed as a non-roster invitee this offseason and spent most of spring in big-league camp. He had a 1.29 ERA and 0.57 WHIP in 7 innings in Cactus League play. He’s carried that success over to Iowa, where he had a 1.17 ERA and 0.65 WHIP in 7.2 innings across 6 games.

“I think he’s continued to pitch well in Iowa,” Counsell said. ” I think he made a really good impression in Spring Training.”

The Cubs’ lack of length from their starters has contributed to their heavy usage of their reliever corps. Their 73.2 innings pitched from their bullpen is the 5^th-most in baseball and their 78 innings from starters is the third fewest in baseball.