As Zambrano left the field during the 5-4 loss to Tampa Bay,
Coming on the heels of
"He had discomfort, we had to get him out and that's all we know," manager
Zambrano said the problem probably was related to the neck soreness he experienced in a May 17 start against Pittsburgh, though he denied afterward his shoulder was sore and said he felt no discomfort until Wednesday.
"We'll see what happens [Thursday]," Zambrano said of a scheduled MRI on his shoulder. "Hopefully it's nothing bad. I feel good … just tendinitis, hopefully, and they'll put me on some medicine."
Zambrano, who allowed four third-inning runs while falling to 8-3, believes he will make his next scheduled start Tuesday night against Baltimore, though the Cubs are likely to be more cautious. The problem occurred while facing Eric Hinske in the seventh.
"There was a funny pitch that I felt something in my arm, and then the last pitch I threw in the game to Hinske, I dropped my arm a lot because I couldn't go back to the top of my arm," Zambrano said.
Catcher
"I wanted to finish the hitter," Zambrano said. "Obviously, Lou told me that's enough, and I have to respect that."
Zambrano left his May 17 start against Pittsburgh after four innings and later complained of neck soreness from sleeping the wrong way. Both Zambrano and the Cubs repeatedly denied a published report he had shoulder pain, and he pitched seven strong innings in his next start to quell doubts.
But one start later, on May 28, Zambrano threw 130 pitches over eight innings against the Dodgers at
Leading 2-1 in the third, Zambrano issued a leadoff walk to Akinori Iwamura before allowing six of the next seven batters to reach on a double, four singles and another walk.
Zambrano induced a double-play ball from Jason Bartlett to get out of the inning and then threw 32/3 scoreless innings to give the Cubs a chance.
The Cubs pulled within a run on Soto's solo homer off
"We make exciting games, don't we?" Piniella said. "I think Tampa Bay likes playing the Chicago teams."
psullivan@tribune.com