Infielder Cliff Pennington pitched for the Reds on Thursday and made baseball history in the process
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With the Reds down 12-4 to the Cardinals in the ninth inning on Thursday night, manager Bryan Price decided he didn't want to waste his bullpen any longer. Instead, he brought in a man who's played six different positions during his 11-year career. A utility player who goes by "Penny" and likes to wear bubble-gum buckets on his head. Cliff Pennington.
Pennington gave up a run and a hit in the one inning he pitched. He also struck out Paul DeJong with some high-80s heat, as you can see in the main clip above.
Price knew what he was doing, though, as this isn't Pennington's first foray into the position-player pitching world. He did it in the 2015 postseason for the Blue Jays:
Pennington is now the first player in nearly 150 years of Major League Baseball to make his regular-season pitching debut after his postseason pitching debut. What a hero.