Bases loaded, 2 outs in the 11th and here comes ... the pitcher?!
Bases loaded, 2 outs in the 11th and here comes ... the pitcher?!
PHOENIX -- The homestand started off better than the D-backs could reasonably have expected with manager Torey Lovullo calling their Opening Day thrashing of the Rockies just the way you draw it up “times 10” after they scored 14 runs in one inning. The D-backs got their NL Championship rings
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13883332
With one out and no one on in the ninth, Lovullo decided to pinch-hit the left-handed-hitting Jace Peterson against Yankees right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga.
In hitting Peterson for the right-handed Blaze Alexander -- who hit his first career home run in the second inning -- Lovullo left himself without an infielder on the bench. Peterson entered to play second for Alexander and the club's usual starting second baseman, Ketel Marte, was in the starting lineup as the designated hitter.
An unexpected injury The D-backs would have been OK had shortstop Geraldo Perdomo not injured his right knee while rounding first base on Anthony Volpe’s throwing error in the bottom of the 10th. That play brought Arizona within a run, but Perdomo exited for pinch-runner Jake McCarthy -- who scored the tying run two batters later on Corbin Carroll's infield single that pushed the game to an 11th inning.
The extent of Perdomo's injury is uncertain at this time, with Lovullo saying that he felt something in his knee rounding first. Though McCarthy -- an outfielder -- entered as a pinch-runner, Lovullo's only option to play the infield in the 11th was to put Marte into the game at shortstop to start the 11th.
No more DH When a team moves its designated hitter to a position in the field, that club loses the DH for the remainder of the game, meaning the pitcher has to hit.
Wild and exciting game. Loved the technicality that led to that ending. Very baseball