The second weekend of the MLB season is over already and the festivities continued across the league as teams played home openers, rookies flashed their brilliance, and veterans learned a few new things from the umpires, ay Kenley Jansen?! Let’s dive in to Sunday’s action…
An Immaculate Start
What better way to kick off the best of Sunday’s action than this immaculate innings from Nestor Cortes Jr.? Nine pitches, nine strikes, three outs. Hats off to you, sir. The Yankees starter threw five strong innings, racking up 12 strikeouts but could not prevent his team from going down 5-0 to the Orioles, however. Those Yankee bats remain too quiet.
All 9 pitches of Nestor Cortes recording the 39th immaculate inning of MLB history pic.twitter.com/9WYmfFHZkn
— Nick Pollack (@PitcherList) April 17, 2022
The Longest Set
We’ve all done it, right? Checked the stream or switched the channel when we thought the screen to be frozen. Well, unfortunately for the Los Angeles Angels broadcast crew, the cold hard fact that they were broadcasting remotely using the screens was outed in embarrassing fashion. Or does Taylor Hearn have the longest set in baseball?!
Broadcast screen freezes:
“Hearn with a long set…”
— MLB Errors (@mlberrors) April 17, 2022
You have to own a mistake like this, though. The fact that it is just brushed aside despite the viewers nor the commentators not seeing the strikeout is equally as bad. Oh dear!
Hugs!
What is more lovely than two great baseball players showing their love for each other? The broadcast crew catching it on camera, maybe? The camaraderie between Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knows no bounds.
bo and vlad hugs🥺 pic.twitter.com/zHa34YPtq4
— maddie (@maddiecholette) April 17, 2022
Hunter On Fire
The debut of Hunter Greene made a splash in my article last week, and he is once again featured after a record breaking day in Los Angeles. Facing the Dodgers, Greene set new records for number of pitches above 100 mph (39) and number of pitches above 101 mph (13) in a single game. Pure heat!
.@HunterGreene17 made history in his 2nd big league start:
🔴 39 pitches of 100.0+ mph (MLB record)
🔴 13 pitches of 101.0+ mph (MLB record)
🔴 Averaged 100.2 mph on his fastball pic.twitter.com/SdG2TZ97lO— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) April 17, 2022
Robo-Ump Heckling
In what could be a blooper scene from The Termintor, a voice heckles the home plate umpire with a premonition from the future in the Rays against White Sox matchup. You have to giggle with sadness.
Guy in the crowd yelling at the ump:
🗣️ "That's why we're gonna replace you with machines!" pic.twitter.com/cj3tJjBMUk
— Welcome to the Ump Show (@umpjob) April 17, 2022
Dumb and Dumber
I mean, how stupid can a team and a franchise be? After starlet Fernando Tatis Jr. ruined the start to his and his team’s season by injuring his wrist in a motorbike accident, it was with great surprise that the shortstop was allowed to play a fun game of soccer on the field before Sunday Night Baseball.
Fernando Tatis Jr. wiped out while playing soccer in the outfield grass earlier today pic.twitter.com/EtaHaB1yWG
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) April 18, 2022
This could have easily resulted in a broken ankle to go along with an already fragile wrist. Crazy stupid but love.
Flash Mob Calling Time
In a perfect execution of flash mob artistry, the crowd in Seattle perfectly called for time in unison along with Astros catcher Jason Castro. Well done, people, well done indeed.
omg were they calling time or participating in the wave maybe both pic.twitter.com/yxxxmVs8Ep
— Lydia Cruz (@TheLydiaCruz) April 17, 2022
That Aged Well…That Did Not
The naysayers have been strong with the prospect of Albert Pujols reaching his milestone 700 home runs before his retirement. But the great man only believes in himself and keeps hitting dingers, especially when they decide to flash the graphic on the screen of how many he remains away from his goal. Redo the graphic, peeps! 681 down, 19 to go.
Albert Pujols game-tying home run! pic.twitter.com/K9haSWbv0X
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 17, 2022
If Pujols has aged better than anyone expected, then this comment from Cincinnati Reds owner Phil Castellini has not. In argument of the perceived lack of ambition from his ball club after a fire sale in the offseason, the Reds owner defended himself meekly and took a shot at fans at the home opener saying “where else are you gonna go?” for baseball. Yikes, I am sure people are exploring their options now.
Since Phil Castellini asked fans “where you gonna go?” on Opening Day, the Reds have lost 6 straight games by a combined score of 43-15, they’ve never had a lead, and the team owns the worst record in baseball at 2-8. pic.twitter.com/6amK25sNpk
— Brandon Saho (@BrandonSaho) April 17, 2022
That Sweet Sound Returns
There is no better sound in baseball than the crack of the bat on a ball that is dispatched into the stands. And here we go…
Sunday dingers 💪 pic.twitter.com/fWvo1xJNn6
— MLB (@MLB) April 18, 2022
Featured Image Photo by Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns of Twitter)