The Cubs have activated reliever Porter Hodge from the IL after a little over a month spent recovering from a left oblique strain. Hodge’s numbers were pretty ugly during a rehab stint with Triple-A Iowa, but that was mainly due to one bad game. The experience is more important than the numbers anyway. In order to make room on the active roster, Ben Brown has been optioned to Iowa.
That move was nigh inevitable after Monday night, when Brown allowed four two-run homers to the Cardinals in St. Louis. The righty has struggled to add a third pitch, though he was getting decent results after incorporating a kick-change earlier this season.