Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant suffered an injury during Wednesday's game against the Philadelphia Phillies. 

Per MLB.com's Jordan Bastian, the Cubs announced Bryant was removed after experiencing hamstring tightness.

Patrick Wisdom took over for Bryant at third base in the top of the fourth inning. The four-time All-Star was 0-for-2 with one strikeout and one run scored prior to being removed. 

The injury is a massive setback for Bryant, who followed up a sluggish 2020 by opening the 2021 season looking like an MVP contender again. With the three-time All-Star set to reach free agency after this season, Bryant's hot start positioned him as one of the most desirable trade targets this year. 

That talk will almost certainly be placed on hold until Bryant is healthy again.

Through 78 games, the 2015 National League Rookie of the Year is slashing .270/.351/.502 with 16 home runs and 43 RBI.

It's a far cry from his 2020 stats. Last year, the 29-year-old slashed an ugly .206/.293/.351 with four home runs and 40 strikeouts in 34 games over an injury-plagued season. It was unquestionably the worst year of Bryant's career since becoming a full-time player in 2015. 

The Nevada native was on the way to rewriting his narrative in 2021—and increasing both his market and trade value—before his latest ailment. 

The Chicago Cubs' Jake Arrieta fought back against the notion his days as an effective starting pitcher may be over after he allowed seven earned runs in 1.2 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night, which raised his ERA to 6.30.

"Not even close," Arrieta told reporters. "This sucks. Really, it does. But I'm not going to hang my head. I'm going to continue to work. I'm going to do whatever needs to be done."

The 35-year-old Missouri native, who won the NL Cy Young Award in 2015 with a 1.77 ERA, added he's still confident in his ability after watching other MLB pitchers.

"I know where my stuff ranks in the game," Arrieta said. "I watch a lot of baseball, and it's still there. It is. This is a tough stretch for us as a team and for me individually."

The right-hander's ERA has steadily risen since he won the Cy Young, however, including throughout a three-year stint with the Phillies before a return to the Cubs:

• 2016 (CHC): 3.10

• 2017 (CHC): 3.53

• 2018 (PHI): 3.96

• 2019 (PHI): 4.64

• 2020 (PHI): 5.08

• 2021 (CHC): 6.30

The advanced numbers also don't suggest there's been much bad luck baked into his dip in performance. His expected ERA hasn't been below 5.00 since 2018, per FanGraphs.

Tuesday's 15-10 loss was the 11th straight for Chicago, which dropped to fourth in the NL Central with a 42-44 record. On June 13, it was tied with the Milwaukee Brewers atop the division at 38-27.

"I contributed to the continued stretch that we're on, and that doesn't sit well with me at all," Arrieta said. "There is still a lot left in the tank. No question about that. The stuff plays. The execution is not there. It hasn't been for a while, but I've been in similar situations in my career. I've been in worse situations than this."

Although the veteran starter expressed continued confidence, Cubs manager David Ross suggested he may consider alternatives for the rotation spot.

"I have to look at that," Ross said. "We have a lot going on, 11 losses in a row. I think there is a lot to look at. I'll wrap my brain around this one tonight. I'll attack the problems in the morning."

Arrieta doesn't have the strikeout rate or velocity clubs usually seek from high-leverage relievers, so he'd probably be relegated to a long relief role if he's moved off the starting staff.

The TCU product is playing on a one-year contract that includes a $4 million base salary for 2021 with a $10 million team option or $2 million buyout for 2022.

If the Cubs stick with Arrieta, his next start would come Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals in the club's final game before the All-Star break.

Through the first half of the 2021 Major League Baseball season, all eyes have been on New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom as he seeks to break the late, great Bob Gibson's modern ERA record of 1.12 from 1968. That effort is going well, as deGrom is at 0.95 through 14 starts.

Yet there's also another ERA chase going on, and this one involves two All-Star closers: Milwaukee Brewers left-hander Josh Hader and Chicago Cubs right-hander Craig Kimbrel.

Through 33 appearances that span 32.2 innings, Hader's ERA is a razor-thin 0.55. After 32 appearances and 30.2 innings of his own, Kimbrel isn't far behind with an ERA of 0.59.

Thus are both pitchers in range of the 0.54 ERA that Zack Britton put up for the Baltimore Orioles in 2016. Though it's debatable as to where the line should be drawn for rate stats among relief pitchers, that's the lowest such mark for any reliever who made at least 50 appearances and/or pitched 60 innings in a single season.

There's obviously a lot of season left, and it certainly bears mentioning that neither Hader nor Kimbrel is even on pace for a record-low ERA for a reliever just in the first half of a season. Scott Downs had a 0.30 ERA through 32 appearances for the Los Angeles Angels in the first half of 2012, and it's perhaps a bad omen that he finished with a modest 3.15 ERA.

But from looking at how, exactly, they're doing it, both Hader and Kimbrel seem more likely to keep going the way of Britton than to veer off in the direction of Downs.

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Josh Hader, to the Max

Hader was a sensation when he first debuted for Milwaukee in 2017, and he went on to tally a 2.54 ERA with 15.3 strikeouts per nine innings between then and 2020. He was an All-Star in 2018 and 2019, and even a down-ballot Cy Young Award contender in the former season.

But while all this is basically another way of saying that 2021 isn't Hader's first rodeo, the 27-year-old is now tapping into something that just wasn't there in his first four with the Brewers.

Particularly between 2018 and 2020, Hader came to have problems with home runs as he served up 27 long balls over just 176 innings. All but one of those taters were off his fastball, which generally speaks to how he was a little too prone to throwing center-cut meatballs.

Well, Hader isn't doing that anymore as only 5.8 percent of his fastballs have found the exact middle of the strike zone in 2021. This is also an even more high-octane version of the heater he was throwing in his first four seasons. He's averaging a career-best 96.2 mph and even hit 100 mph for the first time on Opening Day:

Josh Hader. 100mph 🔥⛽️ pic.twitter.com/IqtTYjh7nq

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 1, 2021

Factoring in how the 6'3", 180-pounder also throws with extraordinary extension and is able to get above-average rising action on his fastball, his heater has an otherworldly nastiness just based on its tangible measurements.

So, go figure that its results are equally eye-popping. Hitters are just 5-for-61 with 31 strikeouts against it, numbers which contribute to its league-best run value on a per-100-pitch basis.

Yet now more than ever, Hader is also more than just a fastball pitcher.

He's been keeping right-hander hitters honest by showing them occasional changeups, and he's also throwing a slider that's unlike the one he featured through 2020. It's faster at an average of 83.8 mph, and with less movement both vertically and horizontally.

Though the latter might sound like a change for the worse, it's not so bad once you see it and realize that Hader's new slider is something like an extreme cutter:

Josh Hader, Wicked 85mph Slider. 🤢 pic.twitter.com/ogXuppPWN8

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 30, 2021

Whereas hitters seemed to get more comfortable facing Hader after his scintillating debut in 2017, the discomfort that now marks their at-bats against him is best encapsulated in how he's drawing swings outside the strike zone at a career-best rate of 40.1 percent.

Ultimately, Hader's 0.55 ERA is backed up by 55 strikeouts and just 12 hits allowed even as he's faced 121 batters. Crucially, none of those dozen hits has left the yard.

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Craig Kimbrel, Resurrected

This likewise isn't Kimbrel's first rodeo, but you knew that. He's literally Craig Kimbrel, in that he literally is an eight-time All-Star whose next save will move him into sole possession of ninth on the all-time list.

Kimbrel's three seasons with the Cubs, however, has been a tale of two Kimbrels:

• First 33 G: 28.2 IP, 28 H (11 HR), 45 K, 24 BB, 7.53 ERA
• Next 40 G: 38.0 IP, 13 H (1 HR), 66 K, 10 BB, 0.47 ERA

Because the 33-year-old's disastrous first impression as a Cub came on the heels of an unceremonious end to his three-year tenure with the Boston Red Sox, it seemed then like the veteran had exhausted his excellence.

But looking back now, it's frankly little wonder that Kimbrel had a hard time getting in a groove. He didn't sign with the Cubs until June 2019, and he was subsequently dogged by knee and elbow injuries. Then came 2020, in which the pandemic kept him and everyone else out of action until late July.

As for how Kimbrel has gotten his groove back, it's helped that he's rediscovered some lost fastball velocity. After sitting at 96.4 mph in his first 33 outings as a Cub, he's been working at 97.1 mph since last September.

The real key, however, has been the resurgence of Kimbrel's knuckle-curveball. It had a subpar 1.4 run value through his first 33 appearances as a Cub but has since high-tailed in the other direction to a superb minus-9.3.

As Kimbrel himself explained to MLB.com's Jordan Bastian in April, the difference is an uncomplicated matter of location:

https://twitter.com/MLBastian/status/1380558743289626624

Not to be overlooked, though, is that Kimbrel has basically turned his curveball into a slider. He stills throws it hard at an average of 86.4 mph, but from a lower arm angle that has contributed to it having less vertical drop than it used to.

This is to say that Kimbrel's hook is more so defined by its glove-side horizontal movement, which works well in tandem with the arm-side run he gets on his heater:

Craig Kimbrel, 88mph Knuckle Curve and 99mph Fastball, Overlay. pic.twitter.com/G9XYWydY8F

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 2, 2021

Though those two pitches are all Kimbrel has, he's about as close to being unhittable as a pitcher can be. His 58.7 contact percentage is not only the lowest of the 2021 season, but also within the top 10 of the lowest contact rates on record since the early 2000s.

So if anything, Kimbrel deserves even better than the rate of 15.6 strikeouts per nine innings that currently sits next to his name.

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Oh, and They're Both Sticking to It

Once it started to become clear in May that Major League Baseball was serious about cracking down on pitchers using sticky foreign substances on the ball, some fans might have immediately thought about Kimbrel and the notorious blemish on the bill of his cap.

Sure enough, Kimbrel was confronted by umpire Joe West and was made to change his cap during a game against the Cincinnati Reds on May 28. Ever since then, his average spin rate has been down from 2,414 to 2,293 revolutions per minute.

Within this same span, however, Kimbrel has also racked up 11 straight scoreless appearances while whiffing 18 of the 31 batters he's faced. So in spite of his notoriously blemished cap, his non-guilty plea actually holds some water.

“I don’t use any of that stuff that they’re trying to get out of the game, anyways,” Kimbrel said in June, according to Maddie Lee of NBC Chicago.

For his part, Hader's spin rate has also diminished from 2,129 RPM through May to 2,058 RPM since the start of June. Yet he wasn't much of a spin rate guy to begin with, so there's at least one reason not to read too much into that.

For good measure, here's another: Like Kimbrel, Hader has been on a roll with 17 consecutive scoreless appearances in which he's struck out 27 of the 60 batters he's faced.

The short version of all this is that both Hader and Kimbrel are dominating the competition just as much as their ERAs say they are, and that they seem notably unaffected by the recent change in MLB's attitude toward sticky stuff. 

And that, of course, means their pursuit of ERA history should be taken just as seriously as deGrom's.

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Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.

Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo exited Sunday night's showdown against the Los Angeles Dodgers due to tightness in the left side of his lower back.

He was 0-for-2 with one strikeout prior to exiting. Sergio Alcantara entered the game in place of Rizzo, though he took over at second base. Patrick Wisdom, who was the starting third baseman, shifted over to first, with Eric Sogard moving to third.

This is another setback for the slugger who has dealt with back issues at times during his career. He missed time earlier this season with back concerns.

Still, Rizzo has been fairly durable and played at least 140 games in each of the last seven years outside of the shortened 2020 campaign.

The 31-year-old developed into a reliable leader for the Cubs during that span, which included the franchise's first World Series title since 1908. He is a three-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove winner and a 2016 Silver Slugger winner who slashed .293/.405/.520 with 27 home runs and 94 RBI in the last full season in 2019.

The first baseman has followed with a .250/.346/.446 slash line with 10 home runs and 32 RBI through 69 appearances in 2021.

If Rizzo is forced to miss significant time, the Cubs could turn toward the versatile Kris Bryant at first base. He also entered the season as the starting third baseman, though, so doing so may force Wisdom into action on the hot corner.

Prior to Joc Pederson's first game at Dodger Stadium as a visiting player, the Chicago Cubs outfielder received his 2020 World Series ring and got a special surprise from his former team. 

Per Alyssa Hertel of USA Today, Pederson's older brother, Champ, was also given a World Series ring by the Dodgers. 

The Dodgers gave Joc Pederson’s older brother Champ a World Series ring pic.twitter.com/4IcVFXdq3J

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 25, 2021

Hertel noted that Champ, who has Down syndrome, has "been included in several activities with L.A. over the years."

Joc has been vocal about how close his relationship with Champ has been throughout their lives. They wrote a joint article for The Players' Tribune in 2016, with Joc describing his brother as someone who "brings this happiness out of people all the time."

In that same article, Joc noted that Dodgers executive vice president Lon Rosen brought Champ into the team's locker room during their celebration after clinching the National League West title in 2015. 

"Just before I could take in how surreal the moment actually was, I saw my brother Champ across the room. Goggles on. Pouring champagne on his head right along with the guys," he wrote. "Of course, he's not a player, but it was just natural to see Champ there."

Champ threw out the first pitch to Joc at Dodger Stadium in 2017 on Joc's bobblehead night before a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. 

The Dodgers chose not to re-sign Pederson as a free agent during the offseason. He spent the previous eight seasons in Los Angeles, making one All-Star team and helping the franchise reach the World Series three times, including its win in 2020. 

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Zach Davies and three Cubs relievers pitched a combined no-hitter in a 4-0 road win against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night. 

Davies threw six shutout innings, striking out four and walking five while throwing 94 pitches.

A trio of relief pitchers—Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin and Craig Kimbrel—pitched the seventh through ninth innings, respectively. They each walked a batter but did not permit anyone else to get on base.

Kimbrel got the final out after striking out Dodgers catcher Will Smith.

NO-HITTER! https://t.co/yjWtrXnJto pic.twitter.com/3fdjupurJo

— MLB (@MLB) June 25, 2021

The 2021 MLB season has now featured seven no-hitters. The first six were courtesy of the San Diego Padres' Joe Musgrove, Carlos Rodon of the Chicago White Sox, the Baltimore Orioles' John Means, the Cincinnati Reds' Wade Miley, the Detroit Tigers' Spencer Turnbull and the New York Yankees' Corey Kluber.

Additionally, Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Madison Bumgarner didn't allow any hits in a 7-0 seven-inning win over the Atlanta Braves. However, MLB does not recognize that effort as an official no-hitter because the game, which served as the second half of a doubleheader featuring a pair of seven-inning games, did not go nine frames.

Per Sarah Langs and Andrew Simon of MLB.com, there were also seven no-hitters in 1990, 1991, 2012 and 2015. The all-time record (modern era or earlier) is eight no-hitters (1884).

Thursday's no-hitter marked the first by the Cubs since left-hander Alec Mills tossed one against the Milwaukee Brewers last September. It's also the 17th no-hitter in franchise history.

This marks MLB's first combined no-hitter since starter Anibel Sanchez and three Houston Astros relievers got the job done against the Seattle Mariners on August 3, 2019.

Chicago also accomplished this feat in the process:

The @Cubs are the first team in MLB history to throw a no-hitter (solo or combined) against a team with 3 former MVP winners in the starting lineup (Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger, Albert Pujols).

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) June 25, 2021

The Cubs got on the board courtesy of a Javier Baez solo homer in the first, Willson Contreras' two-run shot in the sixth and Jake Marisnick's seventh-inning RBI single.

The 42-33 Cubs moved into a first-place National League Central tie with the Milwaukee Brewers with the win. The 44-31 Dodgers, who stayed in second place in the NL West despite the loss, fell 4.5 games behind the first-place San Francisco Giants.

Chicago Cubs shortstop Javier Baez left his team's road game against the San Francisco Giants on Sunday with right thumb soreness, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com.

Baez went 0-for-4 at the plate before being replaced by Sergio Alcantara.

The 28-year-old hit .240 with 14 home runs and 45 RBI through Saturday. He has dominated at the dish over his past two full seasons, most notably leading the National League with 111 RBI in 2018.

Baez finished second in the NL MVP voting that year behind Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich but still came away with All-Star and Silver Slugger honors after smacking 34 home runs and posting a career-high .881 OPS.

Baez's numbers dipped a bit in 2019, but he proved to be the Cubs' best hitter en route to hitting 29 home runs with 85 RBI and a .847 OPS. However, he struggled during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, hitting just .203.

In the field, Baez is arguably the best in the game. Baseball Savant credited him with the highest Statcast Outs Above Average metric in the league, ahead of such fielding luminaries like St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado and Minnesota Twins shortstop Andrelton Simmons. In addition, he was first in runs prevented with 14.

This season, Baez has stayed relatively healthy. He played all of April and the first week of May before leaving a May 8 game against the Pittsburgh Pirates with back tightness.

He made an appearance as a pinch-hitter the next day but ultimately missed two straight starts after sitting his team's May 11 game against Cleveland. However, Baez reappeared on the lineup card for May 12.

With Major League Baseball's July 30 trade deadline drawing closer every day, there's nothing stopping other teams from calling the Chicago Cubs about Kris Bryant, Javier Baez and their other pending free agents.

The hard part will be getting the Cubs to listen.

Though they entered May four games under .500 and five games out in the National League Central, a 22-8 stretch since then has boosted them into first place. According to FanGraphs, their chances of winning the division have boomed from 6.1 to 36.7 percent.

The Cubs obviously won't stay this hot forever. And if they do cool down between now and July 30, the summer fire sale that many (yes, including us) had speculated about during the club's slow start may yet happen.

Trouble is, there aren't many obvious signs of impending doom hanging over this team.

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NL Central Standings

1. Chicago Cubs, 32-23
2. St. Louis Cardinals, 31-25 (1.5 GB)
3. Milwaukee Brewers, 29-26 (3.0 GB)
4. Cincinnati Reds, 24-29 (7.0 GB)
5. Pittsburgh Pirates, 20-34 (11.5 GB)

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The Hitters Have Turned It Around

Even though the Cubs won the NL Central on the strength of a 34-26 record in 2020, their offense slumped to the finish and produced only one run in a two-game sweep at the hands of the Miami Marlins in an NL Wild Card Series.

Of particular frustration last season was the sudden mediocrity utter futility of Bryant and Baez. Whereas the two had combined for a sturdy 125 wRC+ and 60 home runs in 2019, last year they mustered only a 65 wRC+ and 12 homers.

After parting with ace Yu Darvish and slugger Kyle Schwarber over the winter, there was simply no way the Cubs would go anywhere in 2021 without bounce-back seasons from Bryant and Baez. Mercifully, the two are granting that wish in a big way with a 144 wRC+ and have already more than twice as many homers (26) as they had in 2019.

For Bryant, the difference has been a new swing that's allowed the 29-year-old—who won the NL MVP Award in 2019—to make better, more consistent contact. For his part, Baez's horrendous 7-to-74 walk-to-strikeout ratio hasn't crushed his production because he isn't missing when he connects.

To wit, the 28-year-old shortstop is working on a career-best barrel rate and already has more than twice as many batted balls over 110 mph as he had in 2020. The latter sample includes the rocket he hit Wednesday and both rockets he hit Monday:

That'll do, Javy.

That'll do. #LARGE @BinnysBev pic.twitter.com/gNb3Ru9H2E

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 31, 2021

Javy's got a pair!#Cubs have FIVE homers today! #CubTogether pic.twitter.com/6nGGZJo9W2

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 31, 2021

These days, however, there's more to the Cubs offense than just Bryant and Baez. Whereas the team ranked 13th in the NL with an 88 wRC+ through April 28, it has since led the NL with a 114 wRC+ dating back to a nine-run outburst April 29.

This isn't because the Cubs are hitting for more power, as their isolated power has actually decreased slightly from .172 to .171. Nor is it because they've been more patient, as their walk rate is down from 9.9 to 8.7 percent.

The real difference is that the club's strikeout rate has plummeted from 28.3 to 23.0 percent. That improvement is largely born out of the Cubs' eradication of a collective problem with fastballs. They've gone from whiffing on heat 23.9 percent of the time through April 28 to 18.2 percent of the time since April 29.

Even particularly fast fastballs don't bother the Cubs anymore. They're still seeing an unusually high rate of 95-plus mph heat, yet they've been hitting said heat much better since April 29 than they did through April 28:

Overall, this is the best offense the Cubs have had since they won 103 games and ended a 108-year World Series championship drought in 2016. 

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So Have the Pitchers

Whereas the offense found its stride April 29, the Cubs pitching staff coughed up eight runs the following day and then 13 on the second day of May. At that point, its 5.01 ERA was the third-worst in baseball.

The turnaround started May 4 when Kyle Hendricks shut down the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 7-1 win in the first game of a doubleheader. From that moment to now, Cubs hurlers boast a 2.18 ERA that's easily the best in MLB.

Hendricks is but one member of a rotation trio that's been hot since May 4:

• RHP Kyle Hendricks: 39.2 IP, 2.95 ERA
• RHP Zach Davies: 27.1 IP, 1.65 ERA
• RHP Adbert Alzolay: 33.2 IP, 2.94 ERA

Hendricks (2.88) and Davies (2.73) finished 2020 with ERAs in the 2.00s, so it was likely just a matter of time before each hit their stride this year. Alzolay's breakout, meanwhile, is a classic case of a pitcher with good stuff who finally develops good control. In his last six starts, he's struck out 35 batters while walking only five.

But with all respect to those three, it's more so the bullpen that's been the difference with a microscopic 1.11 ERA since May 4. 

With a revitalized curveball that's drawing whiffs at a career-high rate, veteran closer Craig Kimbrel has basically been untouchable, racking up 22 strikeouts with only two walks and six hits allowed over his last 12 appearances.

Craig Kimbrel. Reported. Bullying. 😯 pic.twitter.com/wDJsaMGq8G

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 2, 2021

Yet the award for the NL Reliever of the Month went not to Kimbrel but to fellow right-hander Ryan Tepera. He allowed only one run in May, mainly through the use of a cutter/slider that limited opposing hitters to two hits with 15 strikeouts in 24 at-bats.

While we could dish out due credit to relievers not named Kimbrel or Tepera, it would frankly be easier to list the stragglers among that group. Of the 10 relievers who've made at least five appearances since May 4, only Rex Brothers (2.57) doesn't have an ERA in the 0.00s or 1.00s.

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Trade Market Buyers Might Want to Call Other Teams

At least on paper, one thing that might cause doubt about the Cubs is their strength of schedule. Per Baseball Reference, they've had it much easier than any team in the National League.

But that's sort of misleading. Though the Cubs have mostly come up against punching bags, they've also had to play nine games against the Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres since the beginning of May. They've won all but one of those.

So rather than ask whether the Cubs are for real, perhaps a better question is if anyone else in the NL Central is a clear threat. And that's where there are no good answers.

Sure, the Cardinals have spent 26 days in first place. But their pitching depth is suspect, and especially now that ace right-hander Jack Flaherty is due to miss extended time with a strained left oblique.

As for the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds, the former is saddled with one of the NL's worst offenses, while the latter has one of its worst pitching staffs. The Pittsburgh Pirates, meanwhile, are certainly the punchiest of the aforementioned punching bags.

If the Cubs were still on the trajectory they were on back in April, it would be appropriate to hypothesize about which players they might trade ahead of the deadline. Not just Bryant and Baez but also Davies, Kimbrel, Tepera, Anthony Rizzo and Joc Pederson. Collectively, those players would be worth the kind of haul that would provide a shot in the arm for the team's middling farm system.

The trajectory the Cubs are on now, however, is certainly that of a buyer.

Even if they don't put all their chips on a last-hurrah World Series run, they at least figure to improve their odds of winning the division by shoring up their depth. For example, another starting pitcher wouldn't hurt. Nor would a reliable regular at second base.

Barring a deviation from this course, any teams that want their players will have to wait until the offseason.

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Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant and accurate through Wednesday's games.

Javier Baez has a knack for making the spectacular look routine on a baseball diamond, but not even the Chicago Cubs star could have drawn up what happened Thursday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

After Baez hit a ground ball to third base, Pirates first baseman Will Craig took a throw from Erik Gonzalez that pulled him off the bag. Rather than step on first to end the inning, Craig decided to engage Baez in a rundown between home plate and first base:

Javier Báez.
El Mago.
The Magician. pic.twitter.com/yZX7HgUFCU

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 27, 2021

Willson Contreras, who was on second base at the start of the play, came all the way around to score when Craig's toss home hit off catcher Michael Perez's glove. 

The official scorer's ruling on the play was an fielder's choice, and Perez was charged with an error when his throw to first base skipped away, allowing Baez to get to second. 

That was a total lapse in judgment on Craig's part. Even ignoring that there were two outs, all he had to do when he caught Gonzalez's throw was to step on the bag. 

Based on the reaction from Anthony Rizzo after the play, the Cubs dugout seemed to enjoy watching Baez fake out Craig in one of the most bizarre moments of the 2021 season.