Vlad Guerrero Jr. got a rude welcome to the Majors as Chad Pinder robbed him of extra bases with a leap
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The eyes of the baseball world focused on Rogers Centre in Toronto on Friday night, as Vlad Guerrero Jr. made his highly-anticipated debut with the Blue Jays. The A's were in town to play the villains, hopeful of denying Vladito of a breakout first game in the Majors.
Guerrero grounded out in his first at-bat against Mike Fiers, but baseball's top prospect put a great swing on an inside pitch from Fiers his next time to the plate. The ball shot deep toward the left-field corner, the crowd noise swelled, broadcasters' voices heightened in pitch. Had Guerrero crushed a homer? Did he smack one off the wall for extra bases?
Nope. There was Chad Pinder, leaping into the air and robbing Vladito of a sure extra-base hit (that was nearly a dinger in its own right):
That's just cold, Chad. Ice cold.
Welcome to the bigs, Vladito! Nothing comes easy here.
Up in a suite, proud dad Vlad Sr. was totally caught up in the moment of nearly watching his son hit his first homer: