At the plate: Adam Jones, Orioles center fielder, five-time All-Star, 2013 Silver Slugger Award winner and, entering Sunday's game against the Oakland Athletics ... a .200 hitter.
On the mound: Josh Phegley, Athletics catcher, who last pitched in college seven years ago.
Jones took a called strike on the first pitch he saw from Phegley, who had come on in relief in the eighth inning, with the Orioles up 11-3. Jones fouled off the second pitch. The next three pitches were balls. Then a foul. Finally, Phegley delivered an 86-mph, four-seam fastball.
This was the result:
This was the reaction:
Mark Trumbo popped out one batter later, giving Phegley a perfect 2/3 of an inning (and the Athletics a new bullpen weapon), but Jones now has as many home runs this season as strikeouts against a catcher.
"That [at-bat] was a surprise," Phegley later told MLB.com. "He knew that I was just going to come fastball over and over. I've hit against a position player before and you go up there thinking you're just going to crush it, so I think he kind of just got overaggressive. I had fun with it, and I feel like some guys enjoyed seeing me do that, but at the same time, it was a tough game for us and it's tough to come in and joke around about it after that."