Javier Assad’s Worst Career Start: Craig Counsell to Blame?

The Chicago Cubs could not continue their momentum from Sunday’s comeback win as right-handed pitcher Javier Assad had the worst start of his career in a 13-7 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies Monday night. Assad was charged with nine earned runs after he was unable to escape the fifth inning after surrendering 11 hits, which included a pair of Kyle Schwarber home runs.

Some Cubs fans were irate over manager Craig Counsell letting Assad wear it when it seemed obvious to everyone that the pitcher had nothing left on the mound. The Cubs were only trailing 4-2 to begin the bottom of the fifth inning, but after Assad pitched around Schwarber to lead off the inning, Bryce Harper and Adolis Garcia hit back-to-back singles to load the bases.

This was the back-breaker for Assad and the Cubs as Brandon Marsh stepped up and delivered a two-run double. The Cubs currently have four left-handed relievers in the bullpen after calling up two pitchers from Triple-A in the past few weeks, so this seemed like a perfect spot to try to stop the bleeding.

However, Counsell didn’t make the call to the pen; the Phillies added three more runs after the Marsh double, and the Cubs were on their way to a bad loss. It kinda spiraled fast. Assad did have a clean fourth, retiring the side in order, but the walk to Schwarber and the next three hits happened in a span of five pitches.

Plus, it looks like the Cubs are going with an opener on Tuesday night, so Counsell was obviously desperate to get some length out of Assad in the series opener. On top of that, the Cubs’ bullpen had to cover 11 innings over the previous series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

I mean, yeah, in an ideal situation, Counsell pulls Assad before it gets too ugly, but at the same time, you can’t manage every game in April like it’s Game 7 of the World Series. Also, Assad was flat-out bad. He was grooving pitches right down the middle of the plate, and the Phillies made him pay. One of those things where the Phillies seemingly have Assad’s numbers because throughout his MLB career, he’s only given up more than four earned runs three times out of 56 starts, and two of those have come against the Phillies.

One more note: also consider who was on the other side for the Phillies. Cristopher Sanchez, the 2025 NL Cy Young runner-up, had given up two runs through five innings, and while he wasn’t overly dominant, the chances were low that the Cubs were going to get any more runs off of him. Sanchez struck out eight and gave up two runs in six innings of work.

Bottom line, Assad was bad. We’ll see how the Cubs use him going forward, as left-handed pitcher Matthew Boyd is expected to return to the starting rotation next week.