It was an incredible story for one of the Baltimore Orioles pitchers on Wednesday, but what he did on the mound was even more impressive.
The Baltimore Orioles needed to make a roster move when Tyler Wells was placed on the injured list with elbow inflammation.
He is currently their third starting pitcher on the IL as they await the recovery of Kyle Bradish and John Means.
The Orioles only needed someone to transport them there for their series finale against the Minnesota Twins on Thursday, as they had the day off. They had already secured another series win after winning the first two games, but because to the competitive nature of their division, they do not want to lose any games.
Instead of calling up left-hander Bruce Zimmermann, as most expected, manager Brandon Hyde chose to go in a different path by promoting Albert Suarez and starting him on Wednesday.
Suarez last pitched in a Major League game seven years ago as a member of the San Francisco Giants, which added to the intrigue.
Since then, he spent the next season in the minors before continuing his career in Japan with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball. He went on to play with the Samsung Lions in the Korean Baseball Organization.
This offseason, Baltimore signed the right-hander to a minor league contract, giving him another opportunity in the United States.
On Wednesday, Hyde decided it was time for him to get the ball and explained what prompted his choice.
“We needed a starter today, and he is in line, and we believe this gives us our best chance to win against a mostly right-handed club with a few lefties,” the skipper stated, according to Roch Kubatko from MASN.
That’s quite straightforward.
