Cubs backup catcher Victor Caratini pitched four times for the team, twice each in 2018 and 2019.
I’m doing these in chronological order, then alphabetically, so Caratini is the first of three (!) Cubs position players who pitched in an 18-5 loss to the Cardinals July 20, 2018.
Jon Lester started this game and had one of the worst outings of his career, allowing eight runs and two homers in just three innings of work. Anthony Bass, James Norwood and Brian Duensing weren’t any better and Tommy La Stella
had relieved Duensing in the sixth just after Duensing served up a three-run homer to Matt Carpenter to give the Cardinals a 12-1 lead.
We’ll talk about TLS’ pitching on Wednesday. Caratini threw the eighth inning of this game and allowed a leadoff single, then recorded a pair of ground outs before allowing a two-run homer to Yairo Muñoz. Ian Happ wound up pitching in this game and we’ll cover that tomorrow.
The other outing for Caratini in 2018 was just three days later, July 23, 2018 against the Diamondbacks. The Cubs had gone into a bit of a funk after a 13-3 run, with that 18-5 loss being the first defeat in a 5-7 stretch that ended July.
Luke Farrell got pounded for five in the first and overall gave up six runs and so the Cubs were down 7-1 when Caratini relieved Randy Rosario with two out in the eighth. He got the last out of that inning and allowed a leadoff single in the ninth to Paul Goldschmidt. Then he induced a double play, but Joe Maddon took him out in favor of Anthony Rizzo. We’ll talk about Rizzo’s times on the mound later in this series. The Cubs lost the game 7-1.
Caratini threw from the mound two more times for the Cubs, both in 2019.
The first was another game that wouldn’t be allowed under current position player pitching rules, as the Cubs trailed 8-2 going into the ninth on May 26, 2019 against the Reds at Wrigley Field. Caratini entered to throw the ninth and allowed a leadoff single to Jose Iglesias. He retired the next two hitters, but Curt Casali smacked a two-run homer to make it 10-2, which was the final score.
A little less than a month later, the Cubs were trailing the Mets 10-1 going into the top of the ninth, June 22, 2019 at Wrigley Field.
This time Victor retired the side in order, making this acrobatic play to end the inning:
That was worth the price of admission on a day the Cubs got blown out.
Victor Caratini has pitched one other time since leaving the Cubs, the bottom of the eighth Aug. 23, 2022 for the Brewers against the Dodgers. He allowed run-scoring doubles to Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman and the Dodgers beat the Brewers 10-1.
