Padres catcher uncorks ridiculous pitch in blowout loss

When your team is on the wrong side of a blowout loss, it’s never fun. But sometimes there’s a silver lining. Crazy things can happen in blowout losses, like position players pitching. On Tuesday, when the San Diego Padres got demolished by the Seattle Mariners, the Padres trotted out not just one position player on the mound, but two!

The game got out of hand for the Padres almost immediately. Starter James Shields gave up ten runs in just 2.2 innings, and his relief, Luis Perdomo, gave up six runs in two innings. After reliever Leonel Campos pitched 2.1 scoreless, there was just one more inning left for the Padres to pitch, so it was time to have some fun.

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Enter catcher Christian Bethancourt, who came in to pitch in the eighth inning. He had good stuff from the get go. To Stefen Romero, Bethancourt threw a strike that clocked in at 95 mph (thanks to his catcher’s arm, no doubt). But the gem of Bethancourt’s outing wasn’t his 95 mph heater. It was a low and slow 54 mph (!!!) eephus pitch that he threw to Seth Smith for a strike.

Gotta love the “What in the world was that?!” look Smith gave the pitch as it landed in the glove of Hector Sanchez.

In fact, Bethancourt showed off a whole array of speeds during Smith’s at-bat. According to MLB’s play-by-play, Bethancourt started with a 65 mph knuckleball for a strike, and followed it with a 79 mph changeup and a 94 mph two-seam fastball, both for balls. Next was the eephus, and then Smith was hit by a 59 mph knuckleball.

Bethancourt got two outs, but also walked two batters before he hit Seth Smith. That triggered a change, and shortstop Alexi Amarista came in to get the final out of the eighth inning while Bethancourt moved to second base. Amarista, who pitched in a blowout in June 2015, got Shawn O’Malley to ground out to end the inning.

So the Padres lost 16-4, but at least they had a little fun. Two position players pitched, and by the end of the game, Christian Bethancourt had played at catcher, left field, pitcher, and second base. That is a very full day.

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