Friday’s White Sox-Phillies game was already entering into weird territory, but things went to the next level in the top of the 14th.
The game went to extras when Matt Skole, who just joined the team from Triple-A Charlotte earlier in the day, delivered a two-out, two-strike hit in the top of the ninth to score the tying run. That was Skole’s first MLB at-bat of the season.
The game dragged on until the 14th when things got wild. For starters, we had a position player pitching for the Phillies. Outfielder Roman Quinn took the mound.
Jose Abreu led off with a walk. A batter later, Abreu was on second for James McCann. McCann roped a single to left field.
That’s where Vince Velasquez was. Velasquez is a pitcher. He was playing left field. He then delivered a strike on the bounce to home plate to gun down Abreu at home.
That alone was noteworthy and weird, but the weird things didn’t stop there.
The Phillies intentionally walked Ryan Goins to bring up Carson Fulmer. So we had a position player pitching to an American League relief pitcher. This was Fulmer’s first plate appearance as a pro. He never batted in college for Vanderbilt either.
MLB
Fulmer, of course, roped a ball down the third base line that would have easily scored McCann from second. Instead, third baseman Maikel Franco made a diving stop and threw out Fulmer.
To make matters worse, Fulmer came up lame with what looked like a hamstring injury.
Velasquez cemented his position as the star of the game in the 15th. With Quinn still pitching, Abreu had a two-out single to left field. Velasquez came up firing again, but this time it was a faster runner in Leury Garcia. Another good throw from Velasquez, but Garcia barely beat the tag. It was so close they went to review, but the run stood.
Velasquez ended the inning with a diving catch. A pitcher throwing strikes from the outfield isn’t that shocking, but a diving catch on top? Impressive.
When all the chaos ended, the White Sox won 4-3 in 15 innings.
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