Minor league pitcher catches hurt bird on the infield, says a prayer, and apparently saves its life
When you think “baseball pitcher” and “bird” in the same thought, you probably think of Randy Johnson obliterating a passing bird with a fastball at a spring training game in 2001.
After all, if you punch “Randy Johnson” into Google even today, Google will helpfully offer to complete it for you as “randy johnson bird”.
Well, it turns out that avian interlopers at baseball games are not automatically sentenced to becoming an instant four-seam poultry dinner.
Jesus Cruz, a pitcher for the Single-A Peoria Chiefs in the St. Louis Cardinals’ system, was far kinder to our feathered friends Wednesday.
Cruz had just finished up a stint of 4.2 innings as part of Peoria’s 13-4 smackdown of the Burlington Bees when a bird flew past his head.
He put his hand up instinctively and appeared to hit the poor feathered creature, which fell to the ground dazed and hurt
The pitcher then scooped the bird up with his glove, said a little prayer over it, looked skyward for a little “throw me a bone here” prayer …
… and whether through divine intervention or the bird simply recovering its wits after having been knocked out of the sky, the bird chose that moment to start fluttering its wings and getting back to the business of being alive.
But with a name like Jesus Cruz, even “el Dios” had to be paying attention.
Cruz then put the bird atop his hat, which lasted all of a few seconds before the bird hopped back down to the ground with one heck of a story to tell the rest of its flock on the flight south this winter.
So @peoriachiefs pitcher Jesus Cruz (@cruz_sustaita) is in line to win tonight's game. And as he left the game his quick hands allowed him to make an interesting friend. pic.twitter.com/Janlx3tRJ8
— Kurt Pegler (@KurtPegler) July 5, 2018
The cheeky grin Cruz gave as he was walking with a bird on his head was classic minor league ball. In a game that was fast turning into a blowout, a little lighthearted fun kept the mood festive.
Cruz gave up two runs in his start, actually raising his season ERA to 2.30 in the process; with numbers like those, he might be on his way back up in the world.
His team gave him a huge third inning to work with, scoring six runs, then secured the win by scoring two runs in the sixth and four in the seventh. Paul Balestrieri got credit for the win by finishing the fifth and then pitching out the rest of the game, giving up a total of two runs in 4.1 innings of work.
The Chiefs themselves are playing well in Peoria; they raised their record for the year to 47-36 and sit second overall in the Midwest League’s Western Division, having already clinched a playoff spot as the second-place finisher in the first half of the season.
Cruz had a 5.23 ERA in 15 appearances, 14 in relief, in the Class A Advanced Florida State League before getting sent back down to “regular” Class A, but he seems to have settled in as a full-fledged starter in four outings for the Chiefs this season.
The bird, meanwhile, raises its record to 1-0 in near-death experience situations.
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