Two things came together beautifully here: We got a position player pitching, and a gorgeous eephus pitch for a strike.
The player in question in Tucker Barnhart, who came in to the 11-5 Chicago Cubs loss to the Boston Red Sox to do cleanup duty in the ninth inning and allowed just one hit. Pretty awesome.
He was throwing super slow pitches, including some eephuses (eephi?). We’ve got to concentrate on one pitch that was a 39 MPH rainbow that was called a strike, even if the broadcast angle didn’t make it look like one.
Check this beauty out and a subsequent out Barnhart got:
Tucker Barnhart, 39 MPH Paint 🖌️🎨
182 inches of drop 😂 pic.twitter.com/ptKyodPgWb— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) July 17, 2023
Best @Cubs pitcher of Sunday's ballgame was their 3rd string catcher.#GoCubsGo #TuckerBarnhart pic.twitter.com/flMaNYSONq
— Billy Krumb (@ClubhouseCancer) July 16, 2023
Barnhart looking into the crowd. #cubs pic.twitter.com/IJs2XJKALH
— Rob J. (@Rob_in_indie) July 16, 2023