Game 3 of the ALDS between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox got so out of hand on Monday night that the Yankees asked backup catcher Austin Romine to pitch.
Romine, who caught 77 games during the regular season while splitting time with Gary Sanchez, got two outs to start the top of the 9th with his team down 14-1. But then he walked Ian Kinsler and gave up a 2-run home run to Brock Holt, giving Holt the cycle for the night.
As surprising as it was to see a position player in to pitch in a postseason game, Tyler Kepner says it was actually the second time to happen.
This will be Austin Romine with the second-ever postseason pitching appearance by a non-pitcher. Cliff Pennington did it for Toronto in the 2015 ALCS. What a fiasco for the Yankees.
— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) October 9, 2018
no no no this is the wrong Romine for this moment pic.twitter.com/C1MM9NEMzE
— Gemma Kaneko (@GemmaKaneko) October 9, 2018
Why don’t you see this happen more often in the postseason? Only good teams make the playoffs, and good teams don’t usually lose so badly that they decide to sit their pen and go with a position player. But on this night, the Yankees suffered their worst loss in their postseason history, getting hammered 16-1.
At least Austin now joins his brother as position players who have pitched in games.
