The Cubs are set to welcome back starter Carlos Zambrano as the right hander will return to the mound to take on Marlins Saturday.
Zambrano has been out since June 30th after experiencing back soreness. The 30 year old exited that contest after giving up 2 hits and walks over a single inning of work.
Back issues are nothing new for Big Z and the Cubs decided to use the All-Star break to give their starter some time off.
On the year, Zambrano has maintained a 4.34 ERA and WHIP of 1.37 over 112 innings. He got off to a rough start this season, giving up 20 earned runs over 36.2 April innings. After recovering for a respectable May, Zambrano had an inconsistent June, turning in 3 exceptional starts and 2 awful ones.
Zambrano hasn’t been the only Cubs pitcher to turn in a disappointing 2011. As a team, Chicago has the third worst earned run average in the bigs to go with their league worst 35 quality starts and 1.48 WHIP.
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