Cubs place Kyle Tucker on 10-day IL with left calf strain

The Chicago Cubs placed All-Star right fielder Kyle Tucker on the 10-day injured list on Tuesday because of a left calf strain, a move retroactive to Sept. 6 that will make him eligible to return on Sept. 16. Tucker has not played since Sept. 2 after leaving the game against the Atlanta Braves with calf tightness, and manager Craig Counsell said the club decided the injury needed more time to heal after a day of on-field work produced no improvement.

"It was just a little worse today than it was yesterday," Counsell told reporters before Tuesday's game. "He wasn't comfortable playing, so we said, we have to give this a little more time." Tucker described the issue similarly, saying the calf "kind of got a little tighter" as he moved and that the soreness stopped him from continuing. "It's kind of frustrating," he said, adding that he will treat the recovery on a day-by-day basis.

The decision follows a weekend of uncertainty in which the team initially described Tucker as day-to-day after he tested the calf with running at Wrigley Field. The Cubs had summoned Triple-A outfielder Owen Caissie to Chicago as a contingency if Tucker required an IL stint, but the roster move...