Although it’s not yet clear if there’s a relationship, an inning after he misplayed a double into a triple in left field, Kyle Schwarber was pulled from tonight’s game and replaced by Cameron Maybin. (UPDATE: That is indeed why Schwarber as pulled, with much more discussion here. Original post follows.)
There’s no word yet from the Cubs on why Schwarber was pulled, so we don’t yet know if we’re talking about an injury situation. David Ross didn’t say it was an injury on the ESPN broadcast, however, and instead seemed to suggest it was a mere manager’s decision:
On the ESPN broadcast, all manager David Ross offered on pulling Schwarber was: "He's fine."
So, continue to stay tuned on specifics.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 21, 2020
Here is David Ross on ESPN when asked about Kyle Schwarber. #Cubs pic.twitter.com/2AclGgSNMX
— Crawly's Cubs Kingdom (@crawlyscubs) September 21, 2020
We’ll see what Ross says about the decision after the game, and what Schwarber has to say. He’s currently watching the game on the bench.
UPDATE: Gonna guess it wasn’t a hangnail:
David Ross says he'd rather keep things 'in house' in relation to Kyle Schwarber being pulled mid game tonight.
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) September 21, 2020
Ross didn’t like something about Schwarber’s night or attitude or whatever, and that was a yank. That’s probably the end of it, with the message sent (whatever message it was).