There were a lot of weird things going on in last night’s series starter between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
For one, the Cubs trounced the Reds for 15 runs over eight innings, for another Jon Jay hit a single, double, and triple in order, before being intentionally walked in his fourth plate appearance, just a homer shy of the cycle.
Later, Joe Maddon tried to use four, yes FOUR, outfielders against Joey Votto, and yet, somehow, he still managed to hit a double down the right-field line.
And then later, he did this for whatever reason:
Hey, Joey … you alright bud? pic.twitter.com/1zmuTo0IeC
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) August 15, 2017
But the weirdness really began in the eighth inning, when the Reds sent second baseman (and side-winder) Scooter Gennett out to the mound for some late-inning mop-up duty.
Now, while using position players as relievers is always fun, it’s not really all that rare. However, it is a bit more rare to see a second baseman toe the rubber as a reliever on the other team digs in at the plate … but that’s just what we got when Justin Grimm stepped in against Gennett.
Take a look:
And, hey! Grimm made some solid contact!
In the end, though, the position-player reliever beat the relief-pitcher batter. And now we know.
Oh, and for one final bit of randomness: Javy Baez hit his 18th homer off Gennett in that eighth inning, though it’s worth pointing out that Gennett hit his 20th earlier in the game. It’s probably not too common for a pitcher to have more homers than the hitter he’s facing this late into the season, but that’s just the sort of game this was.