Any pitcher who has to go against the loaded offensive attack of the Chicago White Sox has to deal with a lot of adversity. "Adversity," meaning the leadoff bat of Tim Anderson, or the rising talent of Yoan Moncada, or the MVP-caliber cleanup slugger named Jose Abreu, or the red-hot, rule-defying presence of Yermin Mercedes. That's not an easy lineup to get through, and the statistics make it pretty easy to see: they're one of only six teams, as of May 25, to average more than five runs per game, and they currently rank fourth in the bigs in batting average (.254).
But fearsome sluggers like the ones listed above weren't the only obstacles in the way of a successful outing on for St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Kwang Hyun Kim on Monday night. This time, the White Sox got a little bit of help from some very little friends.
And you've got to see the smile from Adam Wainwright at the end of this clip:
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The 32-year-old Kim has been very successful throughout his brief MLB career to this point, turning 14 starts into a 4-2 record and a 2.28 ERA after debuting last season. However, Monday proved not to be the easiest outing for Kim, as he surrendered more than one earned run for just the second time this year, after five consecutive starts of only one earned. Did the gnats, or dragonflies, or whatever flying insects they were play a part in this? Who knows... it wasn't until the bottom of the sixth inning when the White Sox really struck, thanks to a dinger from yet another rising star.
It's not the first time that insects have caused a player some trouble in a game involving a Chicago team. Remember when Jason Heyward got stung by a bunch of bees, shrugged them off — well, he actually ran away and climbed up a fence to avoid them — and then proceeded to hit a home run later on?
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