Being an MLB rookie is hard. Baltimore Orioles left fielder Colton Cowser already knew that, but he has unfortunately become the 2024 poster boy for rookie screw-ups.
Cowser teammate, Craig Kimbrel, nailed down his 422nd career save at the end of the Orioles’ 9-7 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night. That number ties Kimbrel with legendary closer Billy Wagner for seventh on the all-time saves list, so it was an important baseball.
That ball landed in Cowser glove for the third out, and what did he do with it?
He threw it behind him and it landed in the fountain at Kauffman Stadium. There’s no video of the ball after it left Cowser glove, but there is video of Cowser throwing the ball behind him with reckless abandon.
After the game, Cowser spoke to reporters and explained what happened.
Right when I threw it,” Cowser said, recalling the exact moment when he realized he’d screwed up. “I said, ‘Craig has a lot of saves, that one might’ve been important.’ I literally told [center fielder Cedric Mullins] right when I did it, ‘I might’ve messed up.’ And turns out I did. We got the ball back, though. They said it was the only one in the bottom.
Cowser fully understands how badly he screwed up, but told the media Kimbrel has been understanding.
“I don’t know if he’s still upset or not. I don’t know if he’s upset,” Cowser said. “Obviously, it’s a pretty sick number of saves, so yeah. Pretty awesome guy. I’m glad he’s understanding.”
But Orioles manager Brandon Hyde didn’t let Cowser off the hook.
I guess Cow just threw the ball into the stands,” Hyde said via the AP. “We’ve got to have a little more awareness out in left field when you catch that, when the guy on the mound is that high in saves.
Midland High School and Odessa High School started playing a baseball game on Friday. More than 25 hours later, the game ended.
Midland defeated Odessa 4-3 to complete a 23 inning, two-day marathon on Saturday, the longest baseball game in state history. Per ESPN, that inning total also ties the game for the third-longest in U.S. high school baseball history.
The two teams came only two innings short of reaching the national record. The total length of the game was six-and-a-half hours, with 602 pitches thrown Per KMID Kayler Smith, the game started at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Odessa and was called around 8:30 p.m. due to darkness, with Midland leading 3-2 in the top of the 14th inning. Midland had a chance to end the game as soon as it resumed at 3 p.m., but Odessa scored to keep it going.
The 3-3 tie was finally broken on an RBI groundout by Wyatt Krueger in the top of 23rd, with Jake Nava finally putting an end to the game in the bottom of the inning, his fifth scoreless frame.
And then the two teams started playing the game actually scheduled for Saturday.
Dave McCarty, an 11-year MLB veteran and member of the curse-breaking 2004 Boston Red Sox team, died Friday due to a cardiac event, the Red Sox announced. He was 54 years old.
The announcement came only 10 days after McCarty was present for the 2004 team’s reunion at Fenway Park, where the group was already mourning the loss of Tim Wakefield. Wakefield died of brain cancer last October, and was followed by his wife Stacy months later.
McCarty is survived by his wife Monica and children Reid and Maxine.
Former Red Sox players Kevin Youkilis, Lou Merloni and Lenny DiNardo posted tributes to McCarty following the news.
NESN, where McCarty worked as an analyst after retirement, also posted a video showing a walk-off homer he hit in 2004
Born in Houston, McCarty became a top prospect at Stanford and was selected third overall by the Minnesota Twins in the 1991 MLB Draft. He made his MLB debut two years later and proceeded to carve out a decade-long career working mostly as a bench bat.
He, of course, is best remembered for that 2004 season in which he hit .258/.327/.404 with four homers in 168 plate appearances, though he didn’t see any playing time during Boston’s legendary World Series run.
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