Yahoo Finance The strange but true story of Gabe Speier’s crazy 2021 debut with Kansas City Royals
Left-hander Gabe Speier was at Werner Park on Sept. 15, preparing for Triple-A Omaha’s game that night when he was sought out by Storm Chasers manager Brian Poldbeg.
Speier was needed in Kansas City. It was 6:15 p.m., and Speier was thrilled to know he would be joining the Royals for the first time this season.
Then Poldberg delivered the other part of the message from the Royals. They needed Speier that night.
The Royals game against Oakland at Kauffman Stadium was set to start in less than an hour. It’s about a three-hour drive from Omaha to Kansas City.
Hours later, Speier stepped onto the mound in the seventh inning of what would be a 12-10 loss to the Athletics. In the stands were his wife, Megan, and the couple’s dog.
Here’s the story of Major League Baseball’s strangest pitching outing of the 2021 season.
Hit the road
On the afternoon of Sept. 15, Royals manager Mike Matheny thought he might be able to use relief pitcher Wade Davis in that night’s game. But Davis was dealing with inflammation in his shoulder.
Matheny hoped Davis could work with the trainers and be cleared to pitch, because Royals relievers had thrown 135 pitches in eight innings the night before in a 10-7 win over Oakland.
“They got him out and tried to play catch and then at that point it was like he came off the field, and we started getting the ball rolling,” Matheny said.
Davis couldn’t pitch that night and was headed to the injured list. So the Royals summoned Speier.
Fortunately for Speier, he had pitched for the Royals in each of the previous two seasons, so he had some idea of what he’d need in Kansas City.
After talking with Poldberg, Speier called his wife, Megan, who collected what she could, including their dog, and they hit the road at 6:50, just 20 minutes before first pitch in Kansas City.
Megan kept track of the progress of the Royals game on the MLB app while Speier drove and stretched in the car.
“I was going as fast as I could,” Speier said, “while being safe.”
Get ready ASAP
Speier pulled his car into the Truman Sports Complex and ran into the stadium. After quickly changing into his Royals uniform, Speier sought out Matheny.
It was the seventh inning.
“When I walked into the dugout I said, ‘Hey Mike I’m here,’ and he said, ‘I need you to run down after this hitter and start playing catch,’” Speier said. “I didn’t know if it meant like kind of get ready to go in the game or like, hey, we just need you to play catch because you just got here and you haven’t played catch today.”
Usually, pitchers go from the dugout to the bullpen during an inning break. But Speier ran to the bullpen after an A’s player had singled.
When he arrived in the bullpen, Oakland had two runners on with one out. Speier was told he would be facing Matt Olson, who is sixth in the American League in home runs and RBIs. Just two A’s batters were up before Olson.
“Adrenaline just took over and that’s about it,” Speier recalled.
Meanwhile, Megan had to explain to stadium workers why they should let her and the couple’s dog, Dax, through the gates, as Bally Sports Kansas City’s Joel Goldberg wrote in a Facebook post.
Pulling a Clark Kent
Less than 30 minutes after getting out of his car, Speier was facing Olson.
“Once I got my warmup pitches down, I had my feet under me, I was good,” Speier said. “I was as calm and collected as I could have been, but it was crazy, there’s no doubt.”
Speier entered the game with a runner on second and struck out Olson. In the stands were Megan and Dax.
Khris Davis followed with an RBI single but Mark Canha grounded out to end the inning.
“I’ve never seen anything quite like the Gabe Speier appearance,” Matheny said the next day. “I don’t know if you all noticed but it was out of his car into the clubhouse, he had to pull a Clark Kent in his locker and run out straight to the bullpen. get hot and get out one of the better left-handed hitters in the game.
“It was really, really remarkable. I thought he look great. We gave him a tough part of the lineup, a tough assignment all the way around.”
Speier pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings the next day against Oakland. On Saturday, he didn’t also allow a run in an inning of relief against Seattle.
No matter what happens the rest of the season or his career, Speier will always remember his 2021 season debut with the Royals.
“That, hands down, is the craziest baseball experience in my life,” Speier said. “I didn’t have any time to be nervous or anything. It was just, you’re here, you’re in the game. It was crazy.”
