Chicago Cubs starter Jameson Taillon may miss “more than a month” with a right calf strain, manager Craig Counsell said Friday after the team placed the veteran right-hander on the injured list.

Taillon is 7-6 with a 4.44 ERA and a mainstay in the NL Central leader’s rotation despite some ups and downs in his ninth major league season. The 33-year-old has lost three straight games, with a 10.66 ERA in that span, after winning five in a row.

Taillon, who had been scheduled to start Saturday, sustained the injury while running after a bullpen session on Thursday.

The IL move is retroactive to Tuesday. In a corresponding move, the Cubs recalled lefty Jordan Wicks from Triple-A Iowa before their game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Wicks is expected to work from the bullpen, although 11 of his 12 appearances for Iowa were starts. He was 1-3 with one save and 4.06 ERA with the Triple-A affiliate.

Wicks appeared in two games with the Cubs in April, pitching two innings and going 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA.

Cubs club record eight homers, blast Cards

Michael Busch and the Chicago Cubs turned their holiday into a home run.

Eight of them, to be exact.

Busch hit three longballs, Pete Crow-Armstrong connected twice and the Cubs went deep a franchise-record eight times to hammer the St. Louis Cardinals 11-3 for their fourth straight victory.

Busch went 4 for 4 with five RBIs in his first career three-homer performance and second multihomer game. His second drive of the day hit the right-field video board, just after Crow-Armstrong reached it.

The eight longballs allowed by St. Louis also broke a club mark.

Raleigh ties M’s mark for pre-break homers

Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh tied Ken Griffey Jr. for the most home runs before All-Star break in franchise history.

Raleigh, in the midst of a career season that has him in American League MVP consideration, hit two home runs in a 6-0 defeat of the Pittsburgh Pirates and now has 35 round-trippers on the season.

The last, and only, Mariner to accomplish that feat was Griffey, who had 35 homers before the 1998 All-Star break.

Raleigh has been remarkably consistent.

He walloped nine home runs in April, 12 in May and 11 more in June. Griffey’s figures were a tad more mercurial, but just barely (10 in April, eight in May, 14 in June).

All told, the 28-year-old Raleigh has more than lived up to the early stages of his six-year, $105 million contract extension, which he signed just ahead of the 2025 season.

Mets’ Senga making rehab start today

New York Mets right-hander Kodai Senga, sidelined since June 12 by a strained right hamstring, is to start a rehab assignment Saturday with Double-A Binghamton.

He is to throw 60-65 pitches, according to Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, and soon could return to New York’s injury-ravaged rotation.

Mets reliever José Buttó was put on the 15-day injured list Friday with an unspecified illness, the team’s 13th pitcher on the IL.

Schmidt adds to Yankees’ injury woes

Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt was placed on the 15-day injured list because of right forearm soreness, one day after his start at Toronto was cut short following three innings.

A 29-year-old right-hander, Schmidt was set to have an MRI on Friday.

New York also recalled right-hander Scott Effross and left-hander Jayvien Sandridge from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

He said he’s been dealing with soreness in his arm since his June 4 outing against Cleveland.

Schmidt had Tommy John surgery in May 2017, a month before the Yankees selected him with the 16th overall pick in the draft.

Nationals place Williams on IL

The Washington Nationals placed starter Trevor Williams on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow sprain Friday, two days after the veteran right-hander gave up a season-high seven runs in an 11-2 loss to Detroit.

Williams is 3-10 with a 6.21 ERA in 17 starts this season and is tied for second in the NL in losses.