Cubs roster moves: Kyle Hendricks activated, Randy Rosario recalled, Adbert Alzolay and Rowan Wick to Iowa

Kyle Hendricks has been on the injured list for a little over two weeks with shoulder trouble. He threw a couple of bullpen sessions, pronounced himself 100 percent and tonight, he’s being activated to start against the Pirates, per a press release from the Cubs.

Hendricks had a rough outing June 14 against the Dodgers, but in his eight starts previous to that he’d been lights-out: 1.99 ERA, just six walks in 58⅔ innings. That included an 81-pitch complete-game shutout of the Cardinals May 3 at Wrigley Field. The photo at the top of this post was taken during that game. As always, you can’t tell whether Kyle is happy, sad, angry, whatever... that same game face is on all the time.

Adbert Alzolay isn’t as bad as his horrific start Monday, but then he probably wasn’t as good as his two previous outings. The truth is likely somewhere in between. At this point, especially with Hendricks back, he’s probably better off back at Iowa where he can get regular work in the rotation, and also throw in Sunday’s Futures Game. He will likely be back in September, if not sooner.

The Cubs will have another lefthander in the bullpen with the recall of Randy Rosario from Triple-A Iowa. In eight games with the big-league Cubs through April 25, he posted a not-so-great 6.43 ERA and 1.857 WHIP, but he’s been better at Iowa, with a 2.25 ERA in 18 appearances covering 20 innings.

Rowan Wick has a 3.86 ERA in five relief outings covering seven innings with the Cubs this year. He has four saves and a 2.22 ERA in 20 relief appearances at Iowa this season. He’s got a good arm and will certainly be back on the Iowa Shuttle as the season goes on.