On Friday, the A’s called up Pat Venditte from Triple-A. Ordinarily, a roster move involving a relief pitcher wouldn’t necessarily be of note. This one, however, was. Venditte is ambidextrous and can effectively pitch both left-handed and right-handed. He did so on Friday.
Venditte entered Oakland’s game against the Red Sox in the seventh inning to make his major league debut. Venditte pitched left-handed to Brock Holt and induced a ground ball to first baseman Mike Canha. Prior to facing the next batter, Hanley Ramirez, Venditte switched his specially made glove to his left hand and pitched to Ramirez from the right side. After Ramirez reached on a single, Venditte got Mike Napoli to ground into a double play to end the inning.
Not only did Pat Venditte pitch using both arms, he recorded outs via each. The 29-year-old also worked a scoreless eighth inning for one of the more memorable debuts you’re likely to see anytime soon.
