Taylor Davis had become a folk hero to Cubs fans when he hit a game-tying grand slam against the Cardinals in a game in May 2019.
That’s always fun to re-watch, so here it is [VIDEO].
Davis played in just 20 games over parts of three seasons with the Cubs (2017, 2018, 2019) and just seven of those were in 2019.
As it turned out, the game Davis pitched in would be his final appearance as a Cub.
The game was against the A’s, Aug. 6, 2019 at Wrigley Field. Jon Lester started and man, was he awful — an eight-run
second inning. The Cubs trailed 11-0 after five and that’s when Joe Maddon started pulling some of his starters. Davis entered the game at catcher, replacing Anthony Rizzo in the batting order. Three innings later, with the Cubs trailing 11-2 (Kris Bryant had hit a two-run homer), Davis threw the top of the ninth inning — with Kyle Schwarber catching him. Through 2025 — and probably forever — that’s the last game Schwarber caught in.
Davis allowed singles to the first three men he faced, loading the bases. Then he got a force play at the plate and retired the next two hitters on a ground ball and fly ball, completing a scoreless inning.
Here’s the whole inning. Some of the pitches are pretty hilarious [VIDEO].
Schwarber singled in two runs in the bottom of the ninth and the Cubs had runners on second and third with one out, and another hit might have brought in the A’s closer. But Bryant struck out, and that brought up Davis.
He flied out to end the game [VIDEO].
The Cubs lost the game 11-4 and that was Davis’ final at-bat as a Cub. He left the Cubs as a free agent at the end of the 2019 season and signed with the Orioles, though he never played for them. The O’s traded him to the Pirates and he played in two games for them at the end of the 2021 season.
