The Cubs had played a bit better after the All-Star break in 2022, but were still far out of first place, or indeed, any contention.
They had picked up Franmil Reyes on waivers from the Guardians in early August. Just one year earlier, Reyes had a 30-homer season for Cleveland (and had hit 37 for the Padres in 2019), but his offense had trailed off badly and he was let go.
The Cubs got him and figured, “Why not take a chance?” But it didn’t really work. In 48 games for the Cubs, Reyes hit .234/.301/.389
with five home runs and departed as a free agent after the season.
But not before he took the mound for the Cubs!
The Cubs played six doubleheaders in 2022, many of them forced by rescheduling after the lockout. The last of those was Tuesday, Aug. 23 against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. They actually won the first game 2-0, a combined five-hit shutout by Javier Assad (making his MLB debut!), Michael Rucker, Sean Newcomb, Erich Uelmen and Brandon Hughes.
But the Cardinals teed off on Adrian Sampson, Nicholas Padilla and Anderson Espinoza and led 7-3 when Steven Brault entered with the bases loaded and nobody out in the ninth. He wasn’t any better, allowing a walk, double and triple that made it 12-3.
That brought David Ross out, and Reyes took the mound. He had been the DH that day, so no other lineup changes were needed.
The first batter Reyes faced was Albert Pujols. He ran an 0-2 count on Pujols and then … hit him with this pitch [VIDEO].
This says that pitch was a “curveball” (nope, I don’t think so).
Then Reyes got Paul Goldschmidt to hit into a double play, with a run scoring [VIDEO].
A “changeup”? Nope, again.
Reyes played for the Royals in 2023 and has played the last two years for NPB’s Nippon Ham Fighters. In 2025 he batted .277/.347/.515 with 32 home runs in 132 games, and he’s under contract with the Fighters for 2026.. He’s only 30. The Cubs don’t need him, but I could see a MLB team taking a chance on him in the future.
