With a position player pitching, a pitcher threw a runner out at the plate from the outfield
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When the clock strikes midnight, we enter weird baseball. A game going that late -- unless there had been a rain delay -- is usually deep in extra innings and everyone is more than a little tired. Those are perfect conditions for crazy things to happen.
The craziness got started a bit before midnight in Friday's game between the Phillies and White Sox. In the bottom of the 13th inning, the Phillies pinch-ran for their pitcher Zach Eflin with ... another pitcher in Vince Velasquez.
They left Velasquez in the following inning, but instead of letting him pitch, manager Gabe Kapler sent him out to left field and brought outfielder Roman Quinn in to take the mound. On the surface, that may not seem like the optimal assignment of roles.
Clearly, you're not thinking far enough ahead because it turned out left field was the perfect spot to put the guy with the good arm.
According to Statcast, that throw came in at 94.7 mph. That's why it's probably not a good idea to test the arm of the left fielder, especially when his day job is throwing the ball really hard.
Velazquez was out there again the next inning and, after just missing on another play at the plate, he ended the inning with a Gold Glove-worthy catch.
We spend a lot of time talking about position players pitching, but the Phillies discovered that pairing it with a pitcher fielding is a match made in heaven.
Let's get weird!