The Iowa Cubs and Toledo Mud Hens were warming up to begin the top of the sixth inning when Chicago Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd emerged from the Principal Park dugout for the final time.
Boyd, who had just wrapped up his latest rehabilitation start for Iowa in the first game of a Saturday, July 6, doubleheader between the two teams, sprinted for the Triple-A clubhouse in left field, anxious to get back to his big-league teammates.
“I really want to,” Boyd said in an interview with the Des Moines Register after the game. “Our job is to go win ballgames with the Cubbies. I’m excited to do that when the time comes.”
The time may have arrived.
Boyd allowed five runs on seven hits and one walk in five innings of work in what is likely the final outing of his rehab stint with Iowa on Saturday. The veteran southpaw struck out five and allowed three home runs before departing.
Quickly.
“I accomplished what I wanted to,” Boyd said. “Obviously I wish I didn’t give up the home runs by sometimes that happens in a park like this. You’ve just got to keep going. But yeah, I did everything I wanted to.”
Simply being back on the mound this quickly was a win for the 35-year-old, who has been on the injured list since May 6 after suffering a left meniscus tear while sitting down to play with his kids.
The injury was expected to keep the 2025 All-Star out of action for as long as six weeks. But Boyd is on track to return much sooner.
He bounced back quickly from surgery and made his first start with Iowa on May 31, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and one walk in four innings.
“I think most of it was just being able to throw quick — being able to throw standing up within a couple of days of surgery, and that was huge,” Boyd said.
That set up what Boyd was hoping to be a two-start stint in Iowa. The results weren’t ideal, with him giving up two massive long balls out of the three he teed up Saturday. It stated with a two-run shot by Toledo’s Hay-Yu Lee in the first inning that barely left the park.
The next two were no doubters. Toledo’s Tyler Gentry smacked a 399-foot shot to center in the second. Boyd briefly settled in and retired five straight hitters before giving up another.
A solo shot by Toledo’s Eduardo Valencia in the fourth left the bat at 105.3 mph and traveled 370 feet into the left field suites.
Boyd still managed to pick up the win, throwing 80 pitches, including 56 for strikes. He generated six whiffs while his fastball averaged 92.5 mph. Boyd capped off his day by getting Valencia to swing and miss on a full count curveball in the fifth. Boyd was pleased with how everything went.
For the most part.
“I fell good,” Boyd said. “I feel real good.”
The hope is that he looks good whenever he returns to Chicago. This season has been full of setbacks for Boyd, who landed on the IL earlier this season with a left bicep strain. Boyd has struggled on the hill and gone 2-1 with a 6.00 ERA in five starts.
There’s still plenty of time to turn things around. The first chance could come soon. While nothing is official, Boyd said he hopes his time in the minor leagues is done. As he showed when his outing came to an end, he’s ready for a return to Chicago.
“Probably planning on the next one to be up there,” Boyd said. “I mean. I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ve got to talk to them and we’ll go from there in that regard.”
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020, 2023 and 2025 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How Chicago Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd did in his rehab start in Iowa
Reporting by Tommy Birch, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By Tommy Birch, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
