Sean Newcombs 2-2 curveball didnt break, and suddenly the mound at Yankee Stadium was the loneliest place in the world.It had seemed like this would be the perfect time to make his first Major League appearance in over a month. Bottom of the seventh. A non-leverage situation. The Cubs trailing 12-4. A team simply looking for outs James Norwood Jersey as they limp towards another lo s on this June night in the Bronx.Wellit like the perfect time. As Isiah Kiner-Falefa rocketed his 39th pitch of the inning through the left-hand side of the infield, the veteran watched as the fifth New York Yankee of the inning cro sed home plate.His big league homecoming was officially a nightmare.Ten batters. Six hits. Five earned runs. An 11.57 ERA.Once a top-three starter within the Atlanta Braves' rotation at age 29, Newcomb is looking to repurpose himself. And this time, its out of the bullpen. The career 25-game winner made his MLB debut strictly as a starter in 2017. It wasnt until the 2018 season, alongside Braves starters Mike Foltynewicz and Julio Tehran, that the left-hander began to gain notoriety. The 2018 season saw career highs in games started (30), wins (12), innings pitched (164) and strikeouts (160) while carrying a solid 3.90 ERA, which fell within the top 20 of pitchers in the National League.A large part of his succe s was because of his wicked four-seam fastball, which ranked as the seventh-best in baseball that year via its value.Since that 2018 season though, the Brockton, Ma sachusetts native has never been able to find that version of his pitching self. Scroll to ContinueAfter an average 2019 season coming out of the Atlanta bullpen, the 2020-shortened season saw abysmal figures acro s just four starts, including a shocking 2.63 HR/9 and .328 batting average against. As he struggled for most of his time in the Majors in 2021, it was becoming evident that his once Victor Caratini Jersey elite fastball was deteriorating; the batting average against rose to .308 (.226 in 2018) while the whiff percentage elapsed to 19.7% (22.1% in 2018). Ironically, the velocity of his fastball though climbed, perhaps signaling he might have been trying to alter the pitch (93 mph in 2018, 95.6 mph in 2021).Back at Yankee Stadium, the score was now 17-4. Newcomb stuck out Marwin Gonzalez to finally end the seventh-inning shelling, but inching closer to the inevitable: being designated for a signment by his second club in two months. Newcomb found himself back with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs one week later after going unclaimed on waivers. Just a few months prior he was here rehabbing an ankle sprain, now he was back for a totally different reason: fighting for a big league roster spot. He began his journey back with a scorele s outing for Iowa on June 29. With some tweaks to his fastball usage, and introducing a cutter into his pitch mix, Newcomb began a stretch of finding pitching efficiency that could warrant a spot in Chicagos bullpen. After delivering a 1.96 ERA acro s seven appearances (18 1/3 innings)with 25 strikeouts and allowing just four earned runs in the month of July for Iowa. On Aug. 4, he was recalled to the Majors.For a Chicago team that sure could use the relief pitching help, Newcomb has delivered a solid option for manager David Ro s.Since rejoining the team, he has carried a 3.38 ERA acro s five appearances (eight innings) in August, including a three-consecutive scorele s outing stretch for the first time since September of last year. As Newcomb prepares to head into the offseason as a free agent, his new role reconfiguration could Brad Wieck Jersey mean that his career trajectory, although once in question, remains in the big leagues as a resourceful reliever.More From SI's Inside The Cubs