Kyle Schwarber stepped out of the batter's box and stretched his arms and his blonde bat above his head, loosening up his limbs and the long-sleeved shirt underneath his Red Sox jersey. He wasn't going to swing anyway. Right? Three balls, no strikes, bases juiced, see if Jose Urquidy can throw a strike after already walking two batters in the inning and throwing 34 pitches.
Schwarber did swing -- and good things often happen on a 35th pitch of an inning if you're the batting team. Schwarber sent a 114-mph rocket into the right-field bleachers to give the Red Sox a 6-0 lead in the second inning of Game 3 of their ALCS against the Astros, on their way to a 12-3 drubbing to take a 2-1 series lead.