After the Cubs’ trade deadline selloff in 2021, the team was left pretty much bereft of talent. The roster resembled a waiver wire list (and, in fact, quite a few had actually come via waivers).
They had lost 10 of 12, including being swept by the White Sox, entering the last of a four-game series at Wrigley Field against the Brewers. The Cubs had been outscored by Milwaukee 20-5 over the first three games of the series, but with Kyle Hendricks slated to start the series finale, there was at least
some hope things wouldn’t be quite so bad.
Well, nope on that. The Professor got pounded for 11 hits, nine runs and two home runs in four innings. It was the only time in his Cubs career that he allowed nine runs in a game (he also did so in September 2025 while with the Angels).
Relievers Ryan Meisinger (who?) and Jake Jewell (who?) weren’t any better. Told you it was a waiver-wire team. Those two gave up seven runs in three innings of work.
The Cubs trailed 16-1 going to the bottom of the seventh, when Patrick Wisdom and Frank Schwindel homered, not that 16-3 was much better.
Manager David Ross decided to pump a bit of entertainment value into this game. Austin Romine, who had caught several good seasons for the Yankees and Tigers, had been picked up by the Cubs before the 2021 season and played a few games backing up Willson Contreras. Romine pinch-hit for pitcher Manuel Rodriguez in the bottom of the eighth and stayed in the game to catch.
Meanwhile, Austin’s brother Andrew had also signed with the Cubs in early 2021 and was added to the roster as a backup infielder after the selloff.
Ross brought Andrew in to pitch to his brother for the ninth inning. Luis Urias hit a one-out homer off Andrew, but that was it, and he struck out Jackie Bradley Jr. to end the inning.
Here are some highlights from that inning [VIDEO].
It was reported at the time that this was the first time brothers had formed a pitcher-catcher battery since June 28, 1962, when Dodgers right-hander Larry Sherry pitched to his brother Norm.
The Cubs scored once in the ninth and lost the game 17-4. But the Romine brother act was, at least, entertaining. Here’s Andrew talking about it after the game [VIDEO].
Andrew Romine had previously pitched three times for the Tigers (10.13 ERA) and once for the Mariners (9.00 ERA). Austin Romine once pitched for the Yankees, one inning’s worth of a 27.00 ERA in 2019. Austin played in just 28 games as a Cub and Andrew had only 26 Cub appearances, but this was a fun moment in a bleak second half of 2021.
