If you’re a pitcher who gives up back-to-back-to-back home runs, chances are you’ll be the butt of a few jokes in the clubhouse.
For Trever Bauer, that certainly was the case.
The Cleveland Indians starter gave up consecutive solo shots to Chicago Cubs prospects Jorge Soler, Javier Baez and Kris Bryant in the fourth inning of their spring training matchup Tuesday. So on Wednesday, Tribe manager Terry Francona decided to have a little fun with the 24-year-old right-hander.
At the club’s morning meeting, Tito had a Goodyear, Ariz., police officer come in with a delivery for Bauer.
“I just wanted to return these three baseballs that disrupted traffic on Estralla Parkway at 2:20 p.m., 2:21 p.m. and 2:22 p.m. on Tuesday,” the officer said, per The Plain Dealer.
For his part, Bauer was a great sport about the joke.
[tweet https://twitter.com/BauerOutage/status/575689751983886336 align=’center’%5D
Francona appreciated the fact that Bauer was comfortable with the prank, too.
“I don’t know if we could have done that with Trevor a couple of years ago,” Francona told The Plain Dealer. “But I think Trevor loved it. I hope we don’t do that every five days, but it was good.”
It probably didn’t hurt either that the Indians won 10-6 and never trailed despite the three long balls.
Thumbnail photo via Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports Images
