In our last installment, we talked about Anthony Rizzo’s appearance against the Braves April 28, 2021, and his famous strikeout of Freddie Freeman.
He wasn’t the only Cubs position player to pitch in that
game.
After Rizzo’s K of “Frederick” (as Rizzo once called him during a rundown on the bases when he, Rizzo, was mic’d up), Matt Duffy came in to finish off that inning.
Duffy ran a 3-1 count on Marcell Ozuna, then got him to hit this comebacker [VIDEO].
Now, that play is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, have a look at the “speed” of that pitch:
Friends, I guarantee you those were not “fastballs.” (Nor was that first pitch a “changeup.”) Gameday doesn’t seem to be able to deal very well with position player pitches.
Second, look at Eric Sogard at second at the end of that clip. He’s about to relay to first base. There were two out, the force play ended the inning. Looks like Sogard forgot how many outs there were. As noted in yesterday’s piece, the Cubs lost the game 10-0.
Speaking of Sogard, he also pitched in this game. That story, coming up tomorrow.
