Colin

Rea

Taillon seems likely to land on the injured list. The Cubs are about to get Matthew Boyd back from his knee issue, so that’s something. Colin Rea would no longer be in danger of being replaced in the rotation with Taillon out.

Rea settled in decently well after letting up a run in each of the first two innings and fighting through some traffic in each. He set down seven of the last eight hitters he faced and the only one who reached – Zack Gelof via a walk – was picked off. Now, many of those outs were well hit balls that were fortunately hit directly at a defender, but it’s all the same in the box score. Just be cautious ahead of a two-start week for Rea coming up in Coors Field against the Rockies then in San Francisco against the Giants.

Rea punched out five opposing hitters on the night, though he also issued three free passes. He kept the Pirates off the board entirely through the first five innings, but they broke through for two runs while chasing him in the sixth — including a solo homer by Bryan Reynolds. Rea generated eight whiffs on 92 pitches, posting a CSW of 28 percent. He’ll look to extend his winning streak as he totes a 4.70 ERA and 1.37 WHIP into Wednesday’s tilt against the Athletics.

Two line-drive homers from Christian Walker accounted for all three runs. The second of those was a homer in only three ballparks. Rea allowed just two other hits and struck out four in his longest outing of the season. He’ll take a 4-3 record and a 4.83 ERA into his next start in Pittsburgh.

Rea struck out four and walked one in the contest, raising his ERA to 4.98 this season. Sunday was his tenth appearance (seventh start) of 2026, and he’ll likely continue to hold a rotation spot with Matthew Boyd (knee) on the IL. Rea’s next start lines up at home against the Astros.

Rea entered with a 21 percent strikeout rate that’s up a little from the last couple of years, but he finished with just one K and two misses on 42 swings tonight. He ended up surrendering five barrels, producing two homers and a double. The loss leaves Rea 4-2 with a 4.68 ERA. He’ll look to bounce back against the White Sox this weekend.

Rea had his splitter working in this one. It forced seven of his 13 whiffs as he located it perfectly low and below the zone. With that pitch working, his often uninspiring fastball was forcing late swings and was rarely squared up. He ran into a bit of trouble during his third time around the order, but some help from Alex Bregman and Jacob Webb helped keep his line clean. Up next is a terrifyingly enticing two-start week against the Braves and White Sox.

Back on form after a rough outing against the Dodgers, Rea effectively dazzled the Diamondbacks, missing a quality start only because of an elevated pitch count. Rea managed a sizzling 16 whiffs on 54 swings, but the Diamondbacks did get 12 hard-hit balls against him. The Cubs bullpen immediately put Rea’s win in jeopardy by allowing a three-run homer to Geraldo Perdomo, but hung on. Rea’s in line to start again against the Reds in Wrigley next week and should be a viable-if-unexciting streamer for that one.

Rea was awful, giving up six hits and four walks while seeing 10 balls off the bat register as hard contact. The right-hander was coming off a strong outing against the Phillies, but to say he didn’t have the same kind of success is quite the understatement. He needed 92 pitches to get those 10 outs, and his ERA rose to 4.61 in the process. He’ll try and bounce back to his previous form against the Diamondbacks on Friday.

It’s the second straight season in which Rea has opened up in the Cubs pen, quickly joined the rotation due to injury and started off 3-0. The difference this year is that win No. 3 didn’t come until his sixth start on May 12. This time, it’s coming in his second start. The other occurred when he was pitching behind an opener last week. Rea has a 3.00 ERA and a 20/5 K/BB in 24 innings. He’ll be a streaming option at times, but he’s due to make his next start against the Dodgers.