Albert Pujols had an absolute blast. And never on the plate this time, both.
The longtime slugger made his first profession pitching look on Sunday evening, closing out a 15-6 blowout for the St Louis Cardinals over the San Francisco Giants.
Pujols, the Cardinals’ designated hitter and a 10-time All Star, entered to pitch within the ninth inning for the primary time in his 22-year profession. His pitches topped out at round 55mph and he gave up a three-run homer to Luis Gonzalez and a solo shot to Joey Bart however managed to get the ultimate three outs with loads of margin to spare.
“A dream come true to say that I did it,” mentioned Pujols, whose 681 dwelling runs are the fifth-most in MLB historical past. “It was enjoyable. It wasn’t enjoyable giving up two bombs. I believe the followers had fun. I’m positive the blokes that took me deep did, too.”
2018 @WSDashBaseball OF Luis González each PITCHED tonight for the @SFGiants & HIT A HOME RUN off *checks notes* RHP Albert Pujols.
Baseball is one of the best type of weird. pic.twitter.com/PKGfVuhDmm
The 42-year-old Pujols turned the oldest participant to make his pitching debut since Lena Blackburne introduced himself in at age 42 in his last recreation as a participant/supervisor for the 1929 Chicago White Sox.
With the Cardinals forward by 13 and the end result all however determined, Pujols overheard supervisor Oliver Marmol asking for somebody to throw the ultimate inning so the crew might keep away from utilizing one other reliever.
“They had been trying and I used to be like, ‘I’Il do it. Why not?’” Pujols mentioned.
He took loads of good-natured ribbing from teammates.
“He’s acquired to maintain the ball down,” catcher Yadiel Molina screamed within the locker room.
Pujols had an evidence.
“The factor is, I couldn’t even get it there. Each time I attempted to maintain it down, I used to be bouncing it,” he mentioned.
LaMonte Wade Jr grounded out towards Pujols to finish the sport.
Pujols had a barely extra profitable day with the bat than the ball: he was 2 for 3 on the plate with a double. He scored twice and drove in a run.
Post a Comment