The Cubs felt they avoided a worst-case scenario with their ace, Justin Steele.

But their pitching staff still took a double hit Wednesday when he (left elbow tendinitis) and reliever Jorge López (right groin strain) both landed on the IL. The Cubs recalled right-handed pitchers Trey Wingenter and Jack Neely to fill the spots on the roster.

Tuesday, the Cubs expressed optimism that Steele — who was scratched from Tuesday’s start with elbow soreness — would pitch again, while also acknowledging the reality that an IL stint was a possibility. Wednesday, that became a reality.

Steele was still symptomatic Wednesday, and the Cubs knew his absence was going to be longer than the one skipped start, so they opted to make a roster move rather than play a man down.

“We were kind of debating whether we thought just [skipping] a start was a possibility,” manager Craig Counsell said prior to Wednesday’s series finale with the Pirates.  “[After] 24 additional hours, just don’t think that’s a good idea.

“We put him on the IL and we’re hopeful — and Justin’s hopeful — that, if he feels better rather quickly here, that we can make this be a minimum stay and that’s the hope right now and the goal right now. And we’ll work towards that.”

It’s a tough blow for the Cubs — in the span of 3 days, they’ve seen their playoff hopes dwindle with a pair of back-to-back losses to the Pirates and now they’ve lost their ace and a key reliever.

“It’s how this game works, this is your roster,” Counsell said. “We’ll just make decisions on the active players. Trying to take care of everybody the best we can and make good decisions for their health.

“And then you got to play the game and that’s how you move forward.”

In López’s case, he originally suffered the groin injury on the last road trip — he picked up the save on Aug. 23 with a perfect 9th inning, but then didn’t pitch for over a week. He returned on Aug. 31, picking up a hold in the Cubs’ 5-3 win over Washington. Monday night, he picked up a blown save after he allowed 4 runs in the 8th inning in the Cubs’ 5-3 loss to the Pirates.

He’s been a key reliever since the team signed him to a minor-league deal this summer. He has a 2.19 ERA in 22 appearances with 2 saves and had developed into a leverage option — along with Porter Hodge — for the Cubs.

Like Steele, the Cubs are hopeful it’s a minimum IL stint for the veteran reliever.

“He actually felt pretty good on Monday night when he pitched,” Counsell said. “Sore yesterday and didn’t think he was going to be able to pitch yesterday. Kind of going through this week didn’t think he’s going to be able to pitch. And we just kind of took a step back, and so gonna need time to just rest and get better.”

Wingenter, 30, was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox on Aug. 2. In 8 games (9.2 innings) with Iowa, he has a 2.79 ERA with 16 strikeouts, a 0.83 WHIP and a .147 batting average against.

In 4 games at the major-league level, Neely has allowed 6 earned runs across 4 innings with 5 strikeouts.