Major-league baseball pitchers haven’t been able to help their own cause on offense since the designated hitter became universal.
But in the minor leagues, just about anything can happen. Anything.
Class AAA Nashville infielder Ethan Murray was pressed into pitching duty on May 15 against the Iowa Cubs, but it happened to be in a tie game in extra innings. And like you might imagine, it didn’t start all that great with the position player on the hill. What you couldn’t have imagined was Murray escaping a jam and then delivering the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 11th.
The Sounds had already used six pitchers in their battle with the Iowa Cubs, including a short start by starting pitcher Tate Kuehner. Presumably not interested in taxing any more arms, Nashville sent Murray to the mound for the 11th in a 3-3 game.
After walking former Brewers infielder and Wisconsin native Owen Miller to start the frame, Murray was facing two runners on with nobody out. But a lineout, groundout and diving catch in center field by star prospect Luis Lara got the Sounds out of the inning and set the stage for a wild finish.
Cubs reliever Ryan Jensen (yes, he’s actually a pitcher) struck out Jeferson Quero to start the 11th and then intentionally walked Eddys Leonard to reach Murray, 26, who singled in the winning run.
Murray, who did nearly hit 80 miles per hour on one pitch but threw mostly in the 40s and 50s, hasn’t pitched before in his professional career. The fifth-round pick out of Duke in the 2021 draft has a .645 OPS this year for the Sounds, with two homers and 13 RBIs.
Shortstop prospect Cooper Pratt also homered and doubled in the game for Nashville, which has won five games in a row.
According to a Stathead search, the last time a pitcher registered a walk-off hit in an MLB game and also recorded the win on the hill was May 24, 2005, when Cincinnati’s Randy Keisler turned the feat against Washington in the 14th. Murray may not be a pitcher, but he was batting as the pitcher in the winning spot Friday.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers minor-league infielder gets walk-off hit … and pitching win
Reporting by JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
