Groundout. Groundout. Pop fly.
Mike Minor just threw a three-pitch inning.
Here’s the video:
Mike Minor, Entire Half Inning in under 1 minute 17 seconds.
What Pace of Play Problems? pic.twitter.com/KF04AnksCX
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 26, 2019
It’s the kind of thing that would go down as a milestone, with less than a handful each year—except for the context.
Going into the inning, he’s at 199 strikeouts on the year.
It’s his last start. He’s thrown 117 pitches already. Left in by the manager for the chance at the 200/200 club, having passed the 200-innings mark earlier in the game.
Truly an unbelievable moment here: Mike Minor came back out at 117 pitches to start the 8th. The goal was obviously to get his 200th strikeout of the season (he's at 199).
He threw a 3-pitch inning. Never even seen that before.
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) September 26, 2019
So he comes out to the mound with one thing on his mind: throw a strikeout.
Just one.
And then, a walk to the bench. An ovation. A long, healthy offseason.
Just throw one strikeout.
Instead, he milestones his way out of the real milestone.
the American League just had their first 3 pitch inning since 2017 courtesy of Mike Minor of the Texas Rangers.
— Hayden (@ProudMoolie) September 26, 2019
Thinking about it though, this whole thing may not have been so coincidental.
If the Red Sox, to ruin the whole plan, undid his milestone chase by throwing another milestone his way—a kind of Indiana Jones treasure swap maneuver that put the ball in play three pitches in a row.
And it works. Number 200 doesn’t happen.
Red Sox should have bunted out the game if they cared so much abut Mike Minor not getting that strikeout
— Brian Pickett (@BrianPickett) September 26, 2019
Until the ninth inning came around.
And something even more unusual happened. With the eighth having been that short, despite the high pitch-count, Minor was able to go back out for one last go at 200 K’s. And he gets the first out, on a fly ball to left.
And then Owings hits a foul pop-up. An easy infield catch.
And Ronald Guzman lets it drop.
GUZMAN YOU ARE A HERO FOR LETTING THAT DROP
— Ryan Ritter (@ndtex) September 26, 2019
Giving Minor the gift of a second strike, rather than a second out. Unreal awareness. Teamwork. Weirdness. Awesomeness. Wrongness? Rightness?
And just like they drew it up, the 200th K came on the very next pitch.
Watch it here:
The Rangers intentionally let a popup drop in the 9th inning so Mike Minor could have another shot at notching his 200th strikeout of the season.
Minor recorded that strikeout on the next pitch he threw. pic.twitter.com/nMqeTa2PJo
— ESPN (@espn) September 26, 2019
A few more details on the whole thing here:
Mike Minor said he threw a first-pitch knuckleball to Leon to see if the Red Sox would swing after Minor got 3 outs on 3 pitches in the 8th. First time he's thrown a knuckler in the game all year. @1053thefan
— Jared Sandler (@JaredSandler) September 26, 2019
From the clubhouse:
1. Mike Minor asked Guzman to drop the popup intentionally.
2. The Rangers feel Boston was swinging at the first pitch intentionally to prevent the 200th strikeout.
To that point, Minor said Brock Holt laughed toward the Rangers dugout after popping out.
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) September 26, 2019
So by the end of the game, Mike Minor pitched through the hijinks, the fatigue, and had not one, not two, but three milestones. On his final day on the mound in 2019.
200 innings. 200 strikeouts. A three-pitch inning.
What a way to end a season.
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