Wood will start Saturday's game against the Cardinals, Carrie Muskat of MLB.com reports.

EDGE Analysis

Wood pitched Thursday night in relief, so it's likely he will only pitch a few innings maximum in the contest. He's likely just a temporary fill-in, and he probably won't start many or any more games down the stretch.

Wood picked up his second save of the season in a 9-6 victory over the Pirates on Thursday, striking out five of the six batters he faced over two innings.

EDGE Analysis

Wood has actually now whiffed 10 of the last 18 batters he's faced over two appearances, racking up an absurd 56 percent strikeout rate over that period. Thursday's game also marked the sixth consecutive trip to the mound in which Wood has not surrendered an earned run, and he turned in a highly efficient effort after throwing 53 pitches over three innings in a Sep. 12 spot start against the Phillies. Wood's outstanding 10.76 K/9 rate continues to serve as the most valuable asset he brings to the mound in each appearance.

Wood will start Saturday against the Phillies, Jason Rogers of ESPN Chicago reports.

EDGE Analysis

Dan Haren has been pushed back to Sunday to protect against a rain-shortened outing -- there's inclement in the forecast in Philadelphia on Saturday -- opening the door for Wood to step in eighth start of the season. Wood hasn't thrown more than 33 pitches in an appearance since the calendar turned to August and isn't likely to be available for more than a few innings against the Phillies.

Wood is one of the candidates to start in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader, Carrie Muskat of MLB.com reports.

EDGE Analysis

Manager Joe Maddon has called for Sunday as a "staff day," with Wood, Clayton Richard, Trevor Cahill, and Carl Edwards all possibilities to pitch in the second game of the doubleheader. Dan Haren will start the opener.

Wood retired all four batters he faced - including two by strikeout - against the Giants on Wednesday.

EDGE Analysis

Wood has struggled a bit in August, so Wednesday's performance was a step in the right direction. He'll continue to be used as a low-leverage reliever the rest of the way.

Wood picked up the win to move to 4-3, as he threw 3.1 shutout innings in relief of injured starting pitcher Tsuyoshi Wada. Wood struck out four, walked three and allowed just one hit. He has allowed three runs in 13 innings (2.08 ERA) with 13 strikeouts since moving to the bullpen on May 16th. Given his success and his experience, Wood makes sense as the replacement should the injured deltoid that forced Wada out linger. Wada will be evaluated on Tuesday, so we'll know more about Wood's role then.

Wood pitched a scoreless inning against the Marlins on Monday. Wood has been serviceable in the bullpen since he made the switch a couple of weeks ago. In five appearances, he has given up one run on four hits and four walks in four innings. He has struck out six in that span. Expect him to stay in the pen until the Cubs get desperate for another starter.

Wood will stick in the Cubs' bullpen for now, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score reports. Wood recorded a save in the first relief appearance of his career Saturday, but it was only a byproduct of several of the team's late-inning relievers being unavailable for the opportunity. The lefty is most likely to see lower-leverage multi-inning situations out of the bullpen, which won't give him much value in most fantasy formats.

Wood picked up his first career save on Saturday, pitching a perfect ninth inning in a 4-1 win over the Cardinals. Hector Rondon had pitched three straight days coming into the game, while Pedro Strop had pitched in two straight and given up two runs the night before and Jason Motte got the last two outs of the eighth inning Saturday. In short, Cubs manager Joe Maddon didn't have a lot of options available to him to close out this game, so don't read too much into Wood's sudden ninth-inning assignment.

Wood lasted just 4.1 innings Thursday against the Mets, giving up five runs on seven hits and a walk. He struck out five and didn't receive a decision in the eventual 6-5 win. Three solo homers and then a fifth-inning rally were enough to end Wood's day. He's been a stunningly prolific strikeout artist so far this year, with 39 in 37 innings, but it's hard to see that carrying forward, as Wood's never been known to strike a lot of guys out. All those whiffs have also come with a lot of struggles for the lefty, who now owns an ugly 5.59 ERA. He'll look to right the ship Wednesday against the Padres.