(670 The Score) Cubs infielder Eric Sogard made history Monday night.
The problem? It was just a sad reflection of the state of the club, which has now lost 10 straight games.
Sogard pitched the ninth inning of the Cubs’ 13-3 loss to the Phillies, which marked his fifth pitching appearance of the season. That’s the most pitching appearances in a career by a Cubs position player in the past 100 years, according to Jesse Rogers of ESPN.
Sogard has been busy lately because the Cubs have been doing so much losing. In the Cubs’ 10-game losing streak, Sogard has made three appearances. In the same stretch, All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel has made just one appearance.
A big part of the reason that Sogard took the mound Monday was because of his own mishap an inning earlier. Sogard made a fielding error at third base with the Cubs trailing 5-2 with two outs in the top of the eighth inning. Two runs scored on the play, then the Phillies continued to pile it on.
Sogard also failed to find the success he had pitching earlier this season. In his first four appearances, Sogard worked 3 1/3 scoreless innings while scattering four hits. He allowed three runs, all earned, on three hits in his one inning Monday. He allowed two homers.
Sogard took the mound with the Cubs trailing 10-3. Cubs manager David Ross pushed back at the notion that using Sogard so often is embarrassing.
“No, no,” Ross said. “That’s called conserving your pitching and bullpen. Look, you don’t go into any game wanting to use Eric Sogard. That’s not on the radar. I think the only way we’re going to come out of this thing is to converse every pitch, every inning we possibly can with a bullpen that’s been extremely taxed and ridden hard early on in the season. It’s very evident really quick when you get a guy or two down in the bullpen, you miss those guys. Other guys come in different situations and have to step up. But no – look, that’s just strategy in baseball, trying to move on to the next game.
That game is well out of hand and we’re trying to plan for a long season and at some point turn this thing around and ride that bullpen again as they’ve gotten us a lot of wins already in the season.”
The Cubs’ 10-game losing streak is their longest since 2012. They trail the NL Central-leading Brewers by 8.5 games.