After giving up multiple home runs in a game, most pitchers decide to throw the baseball into an opposing hitter’s back. Apparently, Kansas City Royals pitcher Jeremy Guthrie likes to take the road less traveled.
With the score tied at three apiece in the top of the sixth inning last night, Toronto’s Colby Rasmus, who finished the night with a .196 batting average, took Guthrie yard. It was the second home run allowed by Guthrie, with the other one coming from another below-average player in Juan Francisco.
But instead of drilling Chris Getz in the back with a 90-MPH heater to retaliate, Guthrie decided to hurl a baseball into the Kaufmann Stadium upper deck:
When asked about it after the 7-3 loss, Guthrie said he initially wanted to throw the ball out of the stadium but “thought a fan upstairs deserved a ball.”
Former Tampa Bay Rays closer Fernando Rodney was asked to sit out three games in 2009 when he threw a ball into the press box following a victory. So, odds are Major League Baseball will suspend Guthrie in the near future, and that would probably be a good thing for the Royals, as they have lost his last three starts.
