Sometimes, wild pitches can take off and lead to costly errors; it seems safe to say that this is the usual course of events. Other times, however, they can come back to bite the opposing team in the rear, or as the Texas Rangers found out, the face.
Just ask Shin-Soo Choo, who was up to bat when Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez managed to get in front of an errant throw and deflect it square into Choo’s jaw:
To add insult to injury, the runner on first took off as soon as he saw the pitch sail wide, but the deflection off Choo actually worked out favorably for the Royals, and they were able to get the tagout at second. Hit-by-pitch rulings don’t apply for deflected wild pitches, either.
The Rangers would lose 8-2 for the game, so it’s unlikely that the freak play really, meaningfully affected the final outcome, but let’s just say that it wasn’t the best day for Choo.
Can’t win them all. Earlier this month, the Rangers already got theirs when Bartolo Colon was struck by a 102-mph comebacker to the mound, and brushed it off like the beauty he is to get the out at first.
h/t Twitter/MLB
