Rougned Odor knows a thing or two about inciting controversy, and he did just that during Monday’s thrilling World Baseball Classic matchup.
Odor provided late drama in Venezuela’s tiebreaker game against Italy in Pool D play. With a runner on first and the game tied in the top of the ninth inning, the Texas Rangers/Venezuela second baseman hit a long single off the wall that plated the go-ahead run.
Except Odor thought it was a home run, and his remarkable bat flip proved as much.
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If there’s been a bigger bat flip on a single, we haven’t seen it.
Of course, Odor’s heroics helped Venezuela win 4-3 to eliminate Italy and advance to the second round, so he deserved to put a little flair on his clutch hit — even if it didn’t go quite as far as he expected. But not everyone was a fan of Odor’s antics, including Team USA infielder Alex Bregman.
If you look closely, that’s also Odor in the background of Bregman’s Twitter avatar. (Coincidence? We think not.)
Odor’s role in a bat-flipping incident is nothing new, as he was the one who ultimately fought Jose Bautista … months after Bautista’s monster bat flip in the 2015 MLB playoffs. It’s also interesting to note Bregman’s Astros teammate, Puerto Rico infielder Carlos Correa, unleashed his own bat flip earlier in the WBC.
Bregman and Team USA will get to face Venezuela on Wednesday night in Pool F play, so we’d advise you get your popcorn ready.
