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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Andrew Joseph

The A’s are so bad that the Rangers unexpectedly needed to let a relief pitcher hit for himself

The entire concept of pitchers hitting for themselves (aside from Shohei Ohtani) was supposed to end when Major League Baseball instituted the universal DH last season. But the Oakland Athletics are just so bad that the Rangers felt the need to briefly bring back pitchers hitting.

It’s been a rough week — and season, really — for the A’s. We learned this week that the A’s are set to relocate to Las Vegas, and on the field, they’re looking like one of the worst teams in MLB history.

Saturday’s game against the Rangers was especially sad with Oakland needing just three innings to trail by nine runs. That score eventually ballooned to 18-3 in the eighth inning. Now, the Rangers didn’t expect to keep scoring when they subbed for Nathaniel Lowe with DH Brad Miller — thus losing the DH. But the A’s were simply helpless out there with position player Jace Peterson on the mound.

That gave Josh Sborz the most unexpected at-bat of his career.

When Sborz stepped to the plate in the eighth inning, it was clear that he had zero intention of swinging. Now, this probably would have been more intimidating for Sborz had he needed to face an actual pitcher, but Peterson is a position player. Sborz saw four pitches — all under 60 mph — and struck out looking.

The best part had to be the bullpen’s reaction. They were so unimpressed and heckled him the whole time.

MLB fans also had thoughts about the whole scene. As funny as it was from the Rangers’ perspective, it had to be so embarrassing for the A’s.

This was how Twitter reacted

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