WATCH: Epic fail by Chatwood on wild rundown |
MILWAUKEE — Tyler Chatwood has not gotten off to a great start to his Chicago Cubs stint. The first-year Cub has struggled mostly with his pitch command this season, but he committed a blunder of a different variety in a contest against the Milwaukee Brewers.
With Christian Yelich of the Brewers on second base with no outs in the third, Milwaukee's Lorenzo Cain hit a chopper up the middle to Cubs second baseman Javier Baez. Yelich was caught in a rundown thereafter, as he was stranding too far from second base when Baez corralled the baseball. After multiple throws, Chatwood ended up with the ball at third base, and he proceeded to chase Yelich toward second base. However, midway through his run, Chatwood opted to abandon the routine proceedings of the pickle. Instead, he simply jogged after Yelich, who stepped onto second base safely. Tagging Yelich while the Brewers outfielder was standing on the bag, Chatwood seemed to think that he should have been called out. Chatwood must have assumed that Cain, who had nearly advanced all the way to second base during the rundown, had touched second base, although he did not. Heads up baserunning by the @Brewers or a brain fart by the @Cubs? Regardless, Yelich would not have been called out because the trailing runner is the runner in jeopardy in that type of situation. Therefore, Chatwood forgetting the rules cost the Cubs would should have been an easy out. Furthermore, Cain hustled back to first base while Chatwood was busy applying a lackadaisical tag to Yelich, so both Brewers wound up safe. Chatwood was charged with an error on the play, and on the next at-bat, Travis Shaw put the Brewers up 4-0 with a two-run double. And Chatwood had no one to blame but himself.
You be the judge. pic.twitter.com/bH2OcvlJ3U