Greg Weissert’s first game in the major leagues for the New York Yankees was pretty painful to watch from the first pitch.
Even the Oakland batters had a hard time.
The first pitch he threw, he hit a batter. He then refused. Then, on his second pitch, he hit a guy, which made the A’s batter slam his bat down.
Even after that, things didn’t get much better for the new right-hander who wore No. 85.
Weissert’s last pitch went to the backstop after two one-out walks. Weissert was pulled by Yankees manager Aaron Boone with a 13-2 lead in the seventh inning.
The worst debut nightmare for a pitcher is to lose. At least he’s now a big leaguer for life, and the AL East-leading Yankees still cruised to a 13-4 win.
Weissert, who is 27 years old, was sad after his crazy game, so he banged his glove on the bench and sat down alone at the end of the dugout, looking down.
He was not alone for long.
His teammates began to encourage him one by one. Jose Trevino, Domingo German, and Luis Rojas. By the end of the inning, Aaron Judge was relaxing Weissert.
Weissert wasn’t around to talk about it.
Thursday, when All-Star starter Nestor Cortes got hurt, this guy from Long Island got his big chance.
At Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Weissert pitched in 40 games and struck out 67 batters in 46 innings. His ERA was 1.76.
Weissert’s chance came a few hours later.
It turned out to be a really boring thing, but he won’t be able to forget it.
He hit Jonah Bride with his first pitch. Weissert lost focus and moved on the rubber, balking. Skye Bolt threw his bat to the ground after being hit by a slider.
Weissert walked Tony Kemp after Nick Allen flew out. Vimael Machin walked on a full-count slider to the backstop.
Only five of his 15 throws were strikes. He was blamed for three runs, giving him a current ERA of 81.00.
Boone said that Weissert would be pitching again.
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