How about Hayden Wesneski?

After back-to-back extra innings contests in Arizona, Craig Counsell called on Wesneski to eat up some innings in his season debut. Eat innings, Wesneski did, covering four innings for the Cubs while allowing no runs on one hit. He struck out two Diamondbacks hitters and walked none.

Wesneski was called on in the fifth inning with one out and turned things over to Drew Smyly with one out in the ninth. Smyly promptly coughed up a home run to Joc Pederson but got the final two outs as the Cubs beat Arizona 5-3 in the series finale.

Wesneski’s call-up was part of a series of moves this afternoon by the Cubs, including the promotion of Colten Brewer and the demotion of Daniel Palencia and Luke Little. Palencia and Little were optioned to Triple-A Iowa, and Julian Merryweather was transferred to the 60-day IL.

The Cubs bullpen is working overtime these days, but they haven’t been as bad as many would like to believe.

The Cubs' starting rotation has pitched 78 innings this season, and the bullpen has pitched 73 and two-thirds. The heavy workload was evident in a series in Arizona, in which they went to extra innings twice.

On Wednesday, Jordan Wicks started for the Cubs and lasted only four and a third before the bullpen had to take over with the tall task of covering four-plus innings again. Thankfully, Wesneski—who had been stretched out to pitch starter innings this season and hadn’t pitched since Friday—was up to the task of handling most of those innings.

As broken as some people would like to believe the Cubs bullpen is, it’s actually done pretty well, considering the extreme workload. Over the last seven days—which covers the Diamondbacks and Mariners series—the Cubs bullpen has posted a 2.66 ERA in 23 and two-thirds innings of work.

In that same span, the Cubs’ starting pitchers pitched 30 and a third inning and posted a 6.23 ERA. Starters are averaging five innings per start in that span, and that’s just not going to cut it.

Believe it or not, the Cubs’ offense was their Achilles heel on this extended road trip.

During the nine-game road trip that started in San Diego last Monday, the Cubs offense has a cumulative wRC+ of 86. They’re slashing .221/.283/.399 and striking out 25 percent of the time.

Michael Busch was sensational on the road trip, slashing .310/.412/.862 with five home runs and seven RBI. Busch led all Cubs regulars with a 230 wRC+ on the road trip.

Outside of Busch, it was hard to find an offensive player who carried their weight on the road trip. Ian Happ, Garrett Cooper, Mike Tauchman, Christopher Morel, and Dansby Swanson all had wRC+ under 70 during the nine-game trip.

All things considered, the Cubs made out alright on this west coast trip.

Wednesday’s victory over the Diamondbacks gave them a series victory over Arizona. They also took two of three from the Mariners over the weekend, so despite losing two of three to the Padres last week in San Diego, the Cubs return to Chicago with a 5-4 mark on a trip that could have gone much worse.

Overall, Chicago is 11-7 on the season and has a golden opportunity to take a series and get their offense and starters back on track at Wrigley Field with a four-game set with the lowly Miami Marlins.

More Chicago Cubs from Bleacher Nation

• Michael has more on the Cubs’ victory over the Diamondbacks on Wednesday.

More Chicago Sports from Bleacher Nation

Chicago Bears

• The Chicago Bears added another member to their front office on Wednesday, hiring Ted Crews as a special advisor to President Kevin Warren.

Chicago Blackhawks

• Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy has been named a nominee for the King Clancy Trophy.

Chicago Bulls

• Coby White was on fire on Wednesday night as the Bulls topped the Hawks to keep their season alive.

What’s on deck?

• Cubs vs. Marlins | 6:40 PM CT | Marquee

• Blackhawks @ Kings | 9:30 PM CT | NBC Sports Chicago