Chris Bosio: Struggling Cubs Reliever Justin Wilson Dealing With Stiff Neck

(CBS) In a rarely seen move, Cubs lefty reliever Justin Wilson was pulled in the middle of an at-bat in the eighth inning of his team's 8-7 loss to the Cardinals on Tuesday night.

After walking Carson Kelly to lead off the eighth, Wilson fired a pair of balls to Harrison Bader, then was yanked by manager Joe Maddon in favor of relieve C.J. Edwards.

On Wednesday morning, Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio cited a sore neck as the trouble for Wilson, who has struggled to the tune of a 5.74 ERA since being acquired by the Cubs on July 31. Wilson had performed well at Milwaukee on Saturday, striking out three of the four batters he faced and looking like the pitcher the Cubs believed they acquired, but that didn't continue into Tuesday.

"Here's another guy that's a little nicked up that said he could pitch but clearly wasn't right," Bosio said in an interview on the Mully and Hanley Show on 670 The Score. "(On Monday), he was unable to pitch because of a stiff neck. And yesterday, it loosened up a little bit, but his warmup he had in the bullpen was just OK. He came into the game, and that was just OK. That was the whole reason we had C.J. (ready) behind him because he just didn't look right. He didn't have the carry that he had in Milwaukee that was so impressive."