After busting Wrigley scoreboard, Norris rocks Lester in first AB
Detroit pitcher Daniel Norris set Twitter on fire with a prodigious batting practice blast that broke the Wrigley Field scoreboard on Tuesday.
A night later, Norris took aim at the MLB record books. And his name is there to stay, now.
Norris on Wednesday became just the 19th pitcher to hit a home run in his first major league at-bat, lining a two-run drive off Jon Lester in his first career plate appearance during the second inning against the Chicago Cubs.
According to STATS, that made him the 19th pitcher to go deep in his first major league at-bat. No one had done it since Tommy Milone homered for the Washington Nationals against the New York Mets on Sept. 3, 2011.
On Tuesday night, a shot by Norris took out a chunk of the electronic scoreboard in right field at Wrigley, leading to this Twitter exchange:
So Daniel Norris just broke one of the Cubs new scoreboards during batting practice. pic.twitter.com/3VcfEby6zk
— Dan (@dan_atwater) August 18, 2015
Oops. My bad. ?? https://t.co/HLmac7YVeu
— Daniel Norris (@DanielNorris18) August 18, 2015
The night took a bad turn, however, when Norris left the game with a strained right oblique in the fifth -- an injury which will land Norris on the disabled list, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. The injury was a major downer on what was quite a night for the pitcher.
Norris sounded surprised that he will likely wind up on the DL. He is scheduled to have an MRI on Thursday and wants to see what the doctor says.
"It's a DL situation, so he's going to go on the DL and we're going to have to do something," Ausmus said.
With a runner on and one out, Ausmus and a trainer came to the mound to check on him following a pitch to Kyle Schwarber. Norris reacted angrily as he clutched his right side after throwing a second warmup pitch, then left the game.
Matt Boyd trotted from the bullpen to the mound, apparently thinking he was being called in. But the Tigers went with Tom Gorzelanny instead.
