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Left-hander faces Thome with two outs in ninth, while rodent has field day
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Thursday, Sep 04, 2008
CLEVELAND: The squirrel jogged onto the right-field grass as the Indians' Rich Rundles was preparing to make his major-league debut with two outs in the ninth against Jim Thome, of all people.
Just what the kid needed, right? The left-hander called up from Triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday was facing one of the most feared hitters in the game, the Chicago White Sox designated hitter who recently tied Mickey Mantle in career homers.
''We didn't prepare Rundles to face Thome with a squirrel running around,'' Indians manager Eric Wedge deadpanned.
The brown squirrel couldn't have been expected to know it was intruding on the White Sox's efforts to continue to lead the American League Central Division or Rundles' attempt to retire his first big-league batter. The squirrel took a meandering course, crossing into foul territory beyond the first-base line heading toward the plate.
A few fans in the box seats threw popcorn at the squirrel, who apparently was full after stuffing itself at lunch. The squirrel crossed back into fair territory, checked out Rundles at the pitcher's mound, then moved on toward third-base umpire Larry Vanover, sniffing his shoes.
When the squirrel reached the track in short left field, a member of the grounds crew tried to direct it onto the left-field grass and two co-workers appeared with rakes, finally herding the squirrel through the door in left field that leads under the home-run plaza.
''The grounds crew took care of business,'' said Indians first baseman Ryan Garko, who took time to mock right fielder Shin-Soo Choo, who had made a futile effort to corner the squirrel.
''No way was I going to look like an idiot and chase a squirrel around, like someone was doing in right field,'' Garko said, smiling. ''But Choo probably will get some TV time tonight because of that.''
Rundles ended up walking Thome and was removed because a right-hander was coming up.
''I didn't see the squirrel until after I threw the third pitch,'' he said.
Whether the squirrel distracted Rundles from completing his mission or not, he will get other chances to win a job in spring training as a lefty vs. lefty matchup reliever.
''He wasn't all over the place,'' Wedge said. ''He didn't look nervous. He looked like he was in control and fairly comfortable for this being his first time. He'll get other opportunities.''
Rundles has spent 10 years in the minors, including two in the Indians' organization, pitching at Double-A Akron and Buffalo last year and staying with the Bisons all of this season.
''It was fun to get out there,'' he said. ''It was everything I thought it would be, for sure.''
As for sharing the stage with a squirrel, Rundles said: ''I haven't done that before. So there were two firsts for me today.''
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com.
CLEVELAND: The squirrel jogged onto the right-field grass as the Indians' Rich Rundles was preparing to make his major-league debut with two outs in the ninth against Jim Thome, of all people.
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