Cubs All-Star Javier Baez was a Gold Glover last season, but you wouldn’t know it watching him Monday night. The former MVP runner-up delivered one of the worst plays you’ll see a major-league shortstop make, sailing his throw to first on a Billy McKinney chopper to lead off the bottom half of the seventh inning.
Baez did well to scoop it, but with McKinney jetting down the line, the 28-year-old probably should have kept it in his pocket. Of course, that’s not what Baez did, preferring to be the hero on a play he had no business making. If this were a few years ago, Baez could have taken someone’s head off in the stands, but instead his errant throw harmlessly caromed off the infield netting, preventing a Chuck Knoblauch incident in the Miller Park peanut gallery.
McKinney was credited with an infield single on the play and awarded second on the throwing error by Baez, his second of 2021. The Cubs escaped the inning without further incident, though the Brewers would ultimately win 6-3, dropping Chicago to 4-6 on the year.
Baez, who is slated to hit free agency this winter, plated two of Chicago’s three runs in the losing effort. It’s been a tough start for the Cubs, who have strung together just 49 hits in the early going, the second-fewest of any team in history through its first 10 games. Of course, with 94 percent of the season still to go, the slumping North Siders still have plenty of time to right the ship.
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