{"id":117607,"date":"2025-09-03T20:41:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T20:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/117607\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T20:41:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T20:41:23","slug":"after-ejections-rafael-devers-finally-gets-to-play-third-plus-ohtanis-laser-hr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/117607\/","title":{"rendered":"After ejections, Rafael Devers finally gets to play third. Plus: Ohtani\u2019s laser HR"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB<\/a> newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

A very funny thing happened in Colorado last night.\u00a0Also: Ken on the anniversary of Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig\u2019s record, Ohtani\u2019s 100th homer as a Dodger was a record-breaker and uhhh \u2026 surely Framber Valdez didn\u2019t do that on purpose \u2026 right?? I\u2019m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!<\/p>\n

(Also: Some of you might have missed yesterday\u2019s Windup because we had some technical hiccups. You can\u00a0catch up here<\/a>\u00a0if you\u2019d like.)<\/p>\n

Chaos: Benches clear, lineup card borked, Giants still win<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s one way to get yourself back to third base.<\/p>\n

In the top of the first inning last night, Rafael Devers hit a three-run home run off Rockies starter Kyle Freeland. Devers stood and watched the ball a little longer than Freeland thought prudent, and the pitcher let him know about it.<\/p>\n

The requisite yelling and shoving ensued \u2014\u00a0you can read all about it here<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 but no real punches were thrown, which means there\u2019s a way more interesting angle here (and no \u2014 not just that Devers didn\u2019t finish his home run trot for nearly 10 minutes after the ball left the yard):<\/p>\n

The ejections. In addition to Freeland, the umpiring crew determined that Matt Chapman and Willy Adames had escalated things by doing the bulk of the shoving.\u00a0As you might expect, losing the entire left half of an infield \u2014\u00a0and your Nos. 3-4 hitters \u2014\u00a0can really muck up a manager\u2019s lineup card.<\/p>\n

Casey Schmitt wasn\u2019t even supposed to be throwing, having been hit by a pitch on his elbow the night before. He didn\u2019t even do any pregame throwing, but in the bottom of the first inning, there he was, playing second base. Christian Koss slid over to shortstop. Dominic Smith was the other addition, playing first base and sliding Devers \u2014 and I cannot stop laughing at this \u2014 over to third base.\u00a0(If you need context for why this is funny \u2026\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0you<\/a>\u00a0go<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, Devers got three chances at third, and handled them all cleanly, even starting a double play in the third inning! The Giants won 7-4.<\/p>\n

More Giants: Andrew Baggarly\u2019s profile on Giants rookie Drew Gilbert and his \u201cgoofy, collegiate energy<\/a>\u201d is a must-read.<\/p>\n

Ken\u2019s Notebook: I\u2019d rather be in Baltimore this weekend<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said it before. I\u2019ll say it forever.\u00a0The night Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig\u2019s consecutive-games record was the highlight of my career. Above the multiple Super Bowls, NBA Finals and Olympic Games I covered. And yes, above anything else I\u2019ve done in baseball, in print and on television.<\/p>\n

Saturday night is the 30th anniversary of Ripken breaking Gehrig\u2019s record. The Baltimore Orioles will commemorate the occasion with a celebration at Camden Yards. It will be a cool night at the ballpark, no doubt. For all of us who were there, and even many who were not, the memories of 2,131 remain vivid.<\/p>\n

I wrote the front-page column that night for The (Baltimore) Sun. I was not yet 33, fairly young for a general sports columnist. And with sports writers from all over the country gathering in the press box, I was quite nervous. The Internet did not exist then. This would be a rare time when many of my peers \u2014 and sports writing heroes \u2014 would see my work.<\/p>\n

But enough about me. The night had such meaning, for Baltimore, for baseball, even for the country. Both President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were in attendance. So was Gehrig\u2019s former teammate, Joe DiMaggio.<\/p>\n

It was baseball\u2019s first big moment coming off the strike of 1994-1995. Ripken handled the hoopla leading up to the event magnificently, not just doing every interview, but also signing autographs after every home game. The line of fans would extend from the field all the way to the lower concourse. And Ripken would accommodate every last one.<\/p>\n

People marked the big night on their calendars. Each night at Camden Yards when the game became official, the Orioles would unfurl a banner on the warehouse revealing where the countdown stood \u2014 2,027, 2,028, 2,029 \u2026 The moments became increasingly emotional. Everyone knew the story of Gehrig\u2019s tragic death from ALS. And everyone in Baltimore admired Ripken, a hometown boy from Aberdeen, Md.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0column I ended up writing<\/a>\u00a0that night focused on the victory lap Ripken took around the ballpark after the game became official and the record was finally his. The Sun turned the front page into a poster that still hangs in my office. We were told later that the next day\u2019s edition was the biggest seller in the newspaper\u2019s history. I\u2019m confident that record, like Ripken\u2019s, will never be broken.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be at Globe Life Field on Saturday night, covering an Astros-Rangers showdown for Fox. I wish I could be at Camden. Just to soak it all in. Just to relive the memories once more.<\/p>\n

Milestones: Ohtani\u2019s 100th homer as Dodger is a laser\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shohei Ohtani has been with the Dodgers for less than two full seasons. As of last night, he has now hit 100 home runs in a Dodgers uniform (271 for his career). While the round number is notable, the reason it\u2019s getting a section here is because it was an absolute laser beam.\u00a0Watch it here<\/a>, then come back and check out some absurd numbers.<\/p>\n

First, the pitch from Bubba Chandler was 99.2 mph. Entering this year, the Statcast-era (2015-present) record for home run exit velocity on a pitch faster than 99 mph belonged to Luke Raley, who took a Joe Kelly fastball deep at 114.3 mph. Earlier this year, Aaron Judge broke that record, hitting a Garrett Crochet fastball to the moon at 115.5 mph.<\/p>\n

Judge\u2019s record was short-lived and emphatically broken: Ohtani\u2019s home run left the bat at 120 mph.<\/p>\n

Also, it was a low-soaring projectile. The launch angle of 23 degrees was only the fourth home run of the Statcast era to be hit off a 99-plus mph pitch at such a low angle (the lowest: Pete Alonso\u00a0hit one at 18 degrees<\/a>\u00a0last year).<\/p>\n

OK OK OK, if your eyes have glazed over at all the math, here: Look at Dalton Rushing\u2019s reaction:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Huh: Did Framber Valdez drill his catcher on purpose?<\/p>\n

It seems incredibly unlikely, right? Surely not.\u00a0But \u2026\u00a0OK, to set the scene, the Yankees were beating the Astros 2-0 in the top of the fifth, and had loaded the bases. With Trent Grisham at the plate, Astros catcher C\u00e9sar Salazar appeared to tell Valdez to step off:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As you can see, Valdez did not step off. What you can\u2019t see: Grisham hit a grand slam. 6-0 Yankees.<\/p>\n

On the next pitch, it is very obvious that Salazar is expecting one pitch \u2014 something breaking to his glove side \u2014 and Valdez throws \u2026 not that.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Chandler Rome was\u00a0there to get all the postgame quotes<\/a>. After the game, both Valdez and Salazar were called into manager Joe Espada\u2019s office for a closed-door meeting. Valdez later said that the cross-up was unintentional, but that he apologized to Salazar.\u00a0We\u2019ll probably never hear confirmation to the contrary, but at very least, it was a highly unusual sequence of events.<\/p>\n

The Yankees won, 7-1 (but both the Mariners and Rangers lost, so Houston\u2019s lead in the division is still three games).<\/p>\n

Handshakes and High Fives<\/p>\n

One correction from yesterday: I accidentally misidentified Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia as \u201cMikael Franco.\u201d (I blame the fact I\u2019ve been going through old baseball cards this week.)<\/p>\n

As the Mets try to solve Kodai Senga\u2019s recent struggles, could an\u00a0optional trip to the minor leagues<\/a>\u00a0be in the works?<\/p>\n

Red Sox wunderkind Roman Anthony left last night\u2019s game with oblique tightness. He\u2019s headed for the MRI machine. Meanwhile, Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker left the game with calf tightness \u2014\u00a0we\u2019ll know more soon.<\/p>\n

After taking evasive measures to avoid a near-collision in the outfield on Monday, Diamondbacks outfielder Lourdes Gurriel has a torn right ACL.<\/p>\n

Jim Bowden lists his\u00a0top 50 prospects<\/a>\u00a0in the game.<\/p>\n

On the pods: On \u201cRates & Barrels,\u201d the crew takes a look at\u00a0some recent prospect call-ups<\/a>. And\u00a0Jon \u201cBoog\u201d Sciambi joined Doug Glanville<\/a>\u00a0this week on \u201cStarkville\u201d to talk all things Cubs, plus trade deadline tweaks and more.<\/p>\n

Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Trevor Story\u2019s\u00a0Pesky Pole home run<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love The Windup? Check out\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Photo: Ron Chenoy \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-117607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}