The 2012 Cubs were, by design, a bad team. New President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein had torn down the previous structure to rebuild, and what was left was not very good.
After an unexpectedly good 15-10 July, the Cubs began August winning just six of their first 24 games, never winning more than one in a “row.” One of those one-game “winning streaks” was a 5-0 win over the Rockies Aug. 26 in a game shortened to eight innings by rain.
The next day, the Brewers came to Wrigley Field to open
a three-game series. The Cubs trailed just 6-4 going to the ninth inning of the series opener, a possible win!
And then… Cubs relievers put the game way, way out of reach. Remember Alex Hinshaw? You probably don’t, because the left-handed Hinshaw pitched in only two games for the Cubs. This was the second of those games. He allowed a walk and single to begin the inning and then three straight Brewers hit home runs off him: Ryan Braun, Aramis Ramirez and Corey Hart.
That was it for Hinshaw — in fact, that was his last MLB game, he was outrighted to the Triple-A Iowa roster four days later, but never pitched for them.
Lendy Castillo, a Cubs Rule 5 pick that year, relieved Hinshaw, but wasn’t much better. His first four batters: Walk, single, wild pitch, two-run single. Then he recorded the first out of the inning, if you’re counting, seven runs have scored. Another walk was followed by a strikeout, then another single made it 14-4.
Even manager Dale Sveum had seen enough at this point and brought Joe Mather into the game to pitch. Mather had played all three outfield positions and third and first base for the 2012 Cubs.
The first hitter Mather faced, Jeff Bianchi, singled in Milwaukee’s 15th run. Mather managed to get Martin Maldonado — a future Cub! — to ground out to end the inning. The Brewers won the game 15-4. Sadly, no video appears to have survived of Mather’s pitching appearance. Mather batted .209/.256/.324 with five home runs in 103 games for the 2012 Cubs and left the team as a free agent at the end of the season. He never played in the majors again.
It had been 13 years since a Cubs position player had pitched. These events were about to get more common, as you can see here (Bluesky link):
