The bases were loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning and the Padres’ closer, Brad Hand, was pumping 95 mph fastballs across the plate. It was everything Hunter Pence could do to foul off the one he saw and it put him in an 0-2 hole. One or two more and the at bat would’ve been over.
Instead, Brad Hand went back to the slider, which he had used to get strike one, and he tried to drop it down beneath the strike zone away from Pence. The perfect pitch to get a hitter to swing over the top of, except that Hunter Pence isn’t a hitter, he’s a weirdo.