Anyone who has played youth baseball or been around it has probably heard it from the dugout: “We’ve got ice!” immediately following a hit-by-pitch.
Brooks Lee won’t be needing any ice after a pitch that put him on base Saturday.
Guardians lefty Joey Cantillo wound to deliver the first pitch of the at-bat to Lee in the fourth inning, and he appeared to stumble off the mound. The pitch, thus, came out a bit wonky, registering as a 39.9 mph changeup. It floated toward Lee and clanked off the Minnesota third baseman’s left leg.
We haven’t seen anything quite like that before. Cantillo’s miss was the slowest-recorded hit-by-pitch in the pitch-tracking era (2008), excluding instances with a primary position player on the mound. And even if we included those eephus-laden outings, Cantillo’s delivery to Lee would still rank eighth-slowest.
The hit-by-pitch was insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Cantillo struck out Kody Clemens in the next at-bat to end the inning, completing four scoreless frames with eight K's in his first outing since converting to the bullpen. The Twins, meanwhile, took home an important 4-3 win as they try to make a late dash toward the postseason.
But a 39.9 mph plunking was certainly good for some confusion and a laugh at Target Field.