Late on Monday evening the Cincinnati Reds sent Santiago Espinal to the plate to face Texas Rangers reliever Ezequiel Duran in the Bottom of the 8th inning, except ‘Texas Rangers reliever Ezequiel Duran’ was actually ‘Texas Rangers utility man Ezequiel Duran.’
Duran lobbed 43 mph eephus pitches at Espinal & Co. as he escaped the inning unscathed, though the 14 runs the Reds had clobbered the Rangers with prior to that inning more than sufficed for a Reds victory.
Elly De La Cruz had homered twice, driven in seven runs, and talk nationwide about the ‘torpedo bats’ had already become exhaustive.