Well, at least he was economical.
With the Blue Jays trailing the Astros 3-2 in the seventh inning on Wednesday night in Toronto, manager John Schneider brought in relief pitcher Jose Cuas, but Cuas provided no relief.
The 30-year-old right-hander faced four batters and threw just three pitches, allowing two relief runners to score and hitting two batters with pitches, which was, simply put, one bad game.
Cuas intentionally walked the first batter he faced, Yordan Alvarez, the Astros slugger who had already hit a two-run double and a two-run homer in the game.
On his first pitch, Cuas gave up a two-run single to catcher Yainel Diaz to put Toronto down 5-2.
Cuas hit outfielder Jake Myers and shortstop Jeremy Peña on the second and third pitches.
He was immediately ejected from the game and Toronto lost 9-2.
Cuas’ pitch was historic, as he became the first pitcher in modern MLB history since 1901 to strike out two batters with three pitches. According to SportsNet Stats:.
For the Brooklyn, New York native, Cuas, who was once an 11th-round pick by the Brewers as an infielder, it was an incredible journey to the major leagues.
After struggling as a hitter, Cuas switched to pitching in 2018 and tried to reinvent himself as a pitcher while batting in the minor leagues and independent leagues, even working as a FedEx driver for a time.
“Even if I made it to the major leagues, I never thought I’d play as a pitcher,” Quas told The Post in 2022.
Cuas would eventually make his MLB debut as a pitcher for the Royals and perform well over two seasons in 2022 and 2023.
Still, the 2024 season was a tough one for Causse, as he was designated a designated player after pitching in nine games with the Cubs and posting a 7.43 ERA.
He was acquired on waivers by Toronto in late June and added to the roster after fellow relief pitcher Tim Maza was DFA’d.
In all, Cuas appeared in 12 major league games this season and recorded an 8.22 ERA.
