This was one of the worst Cubs games of 2025.
Reese McGuire came to the Cubs and produced when they really needed him — right after Miguel Amaya suffered an oblique injury in May. McGuire homered twice in his first game as a Cub and was a suitable backup for Carson Kelly the rest of the year.
The Cubs, as you know, had fallen far behind the Brewers, nine games back by early August. They had crept to within five games of the NL Central lead after sweeping the Angels in Anaheim.
Hopes were high as the Cubs headed up the coast to San Francisco.
Welp. They lost the series opener 5-3 and then took a 3-1 lead in the second inning of the second game of the set when Nico Hoerner smashed a three-run homer.
It was all downhill after that on that evening in Oracle Park. Colin Rea didn’t make it out of the fifth inning, allowing eight hits and seven runs, one of his worst starts of the year. Taylor Rogers, acquired at the deadline and a former Giant, allowed a three-run homer to Rafael Devers, his second of the game. That gave the Giants a 10-3 lead and they scored another off Rogers in the seventh on a solo homer by Matt Chapman.
It was 11-3 heading to the bottom of the eighth when Craig Counsell summoned McGuire to pitch, to save the pen for an afternoon game the next day.
McGuire got Andrew Knizner for the first out but then Heliot Ramos came to bat [VIDEO].
That might have been one of the most ridiculous pitches in Cubs history.
Friends, I don’t know exactly what that pitch was but I think I am pretty safe when I say that was definitely not a “curveball.”
McGuire, as you know, recently signed a minor-league deal with the Brewers and he seems likely to break camp as the backup to William Contreras.
That concludes this series on Cubs position players pitching in the divisional play era. Tomorrow I’ll have some thoughts about position players pitching in general.
Category: General Sports
