Position players taking the mound in blowout games is becoming more and more commonplace.
The trend seemed to pick up some steam when Albert Pujols took the mound for an inning back in May.
The New York Mets found themselves in need of a reinforcement late last night.
Trailing the Atlanta Braves 13-1 in the bottom of the seventh, the Mets bullpen had been taxed, so they decided to give new acquisition Darin Ruf a chance to pitch.
To the surprise of many, Ruf actually pitched quite well, throwing two scoreless innings.
In fact, he became the first position player in Mets history to toss two scoreless innings in an outing.
Darin Ruf saved the bullpen tonight.
He’s the only position player in Mets franchise history to toss 2 scoreless innings in an outing. pic.twitter.com/Qww8PPbPLR
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) August 16, 2022
Ruf Saves The Day
There’s always a silver lining.
For the Mets, it was Ruf saving the bullpen giving them two scoreless innings.
Granted, the game had been delayed thanks to some rain, so it makes sense as to why the Mets chose to do this.
The game went late, and they were being blown out anyway, so using Ruf helped save a taxed bullpen a couple of innings.
He also didn’t walk a batter.
He only allowed one hit.
That’s how efficient he was.
You never go into a game where you need a position player to pitch some and save the bullpen and expect him to be efficient.
But Ruf did exactly what the Mets needed him to do last night, and he made some history while he was at it.
He was the only Mets pitcher that did not allow a run last night.
Position players pitching has become a nice little trend over the past few months.
Ruf is just the latest addition to the all-exclusive club.
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