Tough day at the ballpark for Tony Wolters.
Facing Yankees reliever Darren O’Day in the sixth inning of Saturday’s spring training game, Wolters offered and missed at a 2-2 slider, only the slider didn’t miss Wolters.
The Pirates catcher was fooled so badly, O’Day’s bender broke right into Wolters, who was struck just inches away from the last place you want to be hit by a pitch. Wolters fell to his knees in pain, and after seeing the pitch in slow motion, it stuck Wolters just to the left and below his belt buckle, but he was OK after the embarrassing swing and miss.
O’Day fortunately isn’t known for his velocity, like many other flamethrowers in the Yankee bullpen, but the sidearmer flashed his nasty stuff on Saturday. He’ll likely have a bigger role in the New York bullpen with Zack Britton out until June or July.
O'Day told reporters that it wasn't the first time he's struck someone out in such a fashion, and he wasn't going to celebrate it.
"It's a hard game," O'Day said. "It really is. So I'm not going to sit there and gloat about it."
Wolters likely won’t miss any time for what figures to be a bad bruise, but his pride may be temporarily damaged.
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