Atlanta absolutely clobbered the Cubs Wednesday night, erupting for 18 hits in a 10-0 Braves victory. With defeat all but certain, the reeling Cubs decided to give their bullpen a breather by tasking a trio of position players—Anthony Rizzo, Matt Duffy and Eric Sogard—to pitch the final two frames. Appearing on the mound for the first time since 2018 when he pitched to one batter in a similarly lopsided loss to Arizona (A.J. Pollock flew out to center field), Rizzo was brought in to face Freddie Freeman, who had already demolished the Cubs for four hits on the night, leaving him a triple shy of the cycle.
Freeman, who has been on an absolute tear since changing his walkup music to Bad Bunny (much to his son’s delight), took the first two pitches for balls before a resilient Rizzo evened the count with a called strike and a foul ball. Looking for his second homer of the night and his eighth of the young season (which would tie him for the league-lead in that category), Freeman took a mighty hack at Rizzo’s 2-2 offering, whiffing on a 61-mph curveball for strike three.
The reigning NL MVP couldn’t help but chuckle at becoming Rizzo’s first career strikeout victim, grinning as he made his way back to the Braves’ dugout. Rizzo and Freeman shared a laugh earlier this month when the Cubs first baseman caught his Braves counterpart in a run-down between second and third base, shouting Freeman’s birth name “Frederick” loud enough for ESPN’s mics to pick it up.
Though it won’t erase Chicago’s five-game losing skid, seeing Rizzo, a first baseman by trade, conquer one of the most feared sluggers in baseball on a junk-ball thrown at Little League speed had to be one of the more entertaining occurrences we’ve seen on the diamond this year.
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