David Ortiz delivers on promise to sick child with home run
It turns out Alex Rodriguez wasn’t the only slugger to make a young fan’s night during Friday’s Yankees-Red Sox game at Fenway Park.
According to current MLB Network analyst Kevin Millar, his former Red Sox teammate, David Ortiz, promised a sick child named Maverick that he would hit a home run during that game. Ortiz then proceeded to deliver in the eighth inning, smashing a two-run opposite-field home run against Dellin Betances that proved to be the game-winner in Boston’s 4-2 victory.
[Related: A-Rod gives home run bat to young Red Sox fan who lost his father]
The story is pretty amazing, and it was chronicled in full on Millar’s Twitter account.
First, we meet young Maverick and learn a little of his story.
Then Millar posts video of Ortiz sending a message and making his promise to hit one out of Fenway Park in Maverick’s honor.
It’s pretty cool to think that Ortiz’s big swing proved to be the biggest moment of the game. Not to mention it came against arguably the most dominant reliever in the game today in Betances. We’re talking about a pitcher who struck out 22 of the first 35 batters he faced this season, and a pitcher who has only allowed 13 home runs now in 193 career innings.
Betances is a difficult guy to make contact against, let alone make the type of contact Ortiz did on Friday night. But the moment happened, and young Maverick could not have been more thrilled.
Check out his message right back to Big Papi.
If the joy in Maverick’s voice doesn’t bring the rest of us some joy, nothing will.
[Elsewhere: Would Dee Gordon have caught Jonathan Lucroy’s no-hitter spoiler?]
As we’re sure Ortiz himself would say: Maverick, thank you for the inspiration and continue the good fight. Like you were pulling for Ortiz to come through with a home run, we’re pulling for you to make that trip to Fenway Park and to spend a day hanging out with your favorite player.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
