With Héctor Neris gone, Craig Counsell and the Cubs had a hole to fill at the backend of their games.

Tuesday night provided a glimpse of how the Cubs might try and solve it.

With a 2-run lead in the 9th, Counsell turned to rookie Porter Hodge to pick up the final 3 outs of the game in the Cubs’ 3-1 win over the Tigers. Hodge allowed a leadoff double to Spencer Torkelson but struck out Jace Jung, induced a pop fly and then struck out Javier Báez to preserve the win.

Counsell alluded to Hodge as a possibility to step up in the closer’s role, although he was transparent in saying there was no defined closer.

“We’ll view it with an open mind,” Counsell said before the victory. “I think the guys you’re seeing at the end of games, you’ll continue to see them at the end of games. Right now, I don’t see kind of solidifying anything.”

Tuesday night, against a pocket of 2 righties, Counsell figured Hodge was the best fit. Entering the game, righties were slashing .111/.211/.191 against Hodge. The double was a rare blemish, but it was Torkelson’s 4th hit of the game.

“Well, we didn’t have an answer for Torkelson tonight, he had a great night and it was a pretty good pitch that he hit, actually,” Counsell said. “I thought Porter pitched wonderfully.”

Jorge López figures to be in the mix to finish games, too.

The 31-year-old has been stellar since joining the Cubs — he has a 0.83 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in 21.2 innings. Released by the Mets earlier this summer, López has been a revelation and like Hodge, dominates righties to the tune of a .445 OPS and 14 strikeouts.

“I think you’re going to see Jorge there, for sure, at some points,” Counsell said. “But I also think there’s attributes of Jorge that’ll get him into the game a little sooner sometimes.”

Drew Smyly and Tyson Miller were solid in relief on Tuesday, too, and will continue to pitch in leverage situations. But, at the end of the day, López, Hodge, Smyly and Miller are viewed by Counsell like he views all his pitchers — as “out getters”.

“We gotta get 27 outs, you know what I mean,” Counsell said. “Whether you’re getting the outs in the 6th or the 7th or the 9th, we got to get there with the lead.”