After a rocky return from the injured list, Matthew Boyd silenced Arizona’s bats with a dominant quality start, signaling a potential turnaround for the Cubs’ rotation.
Chicago Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd had a much-needed bounce-back outing on Sunday.
Boyd has been a bit inconsistent since coming off the 15-day injured list. The left-hander spent a little under three weeks on the injured list due to a left bicep strain, and the results haven’t necessarily been there for him.
He allowed two runs on five hits across 4 ⅔ innings against the Philadelphia Phillies in his first start back on April 22 and gave up five runs on eight hits across four innings against the San Diego Padres on April 27.
Those two outings rose Boyd’s ERA to 7.00 on the year. He allowed seven runs across 8 ⅔ innings in those two starts and clearly didn’t have his best stuff on the mound.
However, Boyd was really good in his most recent start on Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He threw six innings of two-run ball with five strikeouts in the team’s 8-4 win to complete the sweep.
With the wind blowing out at Wrigley Field, this was an impressive performance from Boyd. He threw his first quality start of the season and gave the Cubs a really good chance to win. His six innings pitched also marked his longest outing of the year.
Boyd didn’t face much trouble in Sunday’s start. The only two runs against him came on a two-run homer from Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno on a pitch that was out of the zone. Moreno connected on a fastball that was above the top of the zone.
Outside of that homer, Boyd was brilliant on the mound. He generated 10 swings and misses and tallied 19 called strikes in the game. His changeup led the way, as he totaled 14 whiffs + called strikes on that pitch alone.
While the southpaw hasn’t pitched well to start the season, Sunday’s outing could get him back on track. The Cubs are definitely going to need him to deliver similar performances like this moving forward.
And he’s more than capable of doing that.
Boyd is coming off the best season of his career in 2025, in which he finished with a 3.21 ERA and 154 strikeouts across 179 ⅔ innings pitched. Those numbers helped the veteran earn his first All-Star appearance.
His early-season metrics also suggested that he got a bit unlucky in his first four starts. He entered Sunday’s game with an expected ERA (4.16) that was 216 points lower than his actual ERA (7.00).
So, some positive regression should continue to head Boyd’s way over the next few weeks.