Something wild: Sox employee looks back on ceremonial first pitch
Squatting behind home plate before Tuesday night's game against the Royals at Guaranteed Rate Field, White Sox relief pitcher Evan Marshall propped up his catcher's glove and waited for Mary Ruich's ceremonial first pitch.
It never arrived.
"Everybody knows what 50 Cent did, and that's going through my head like, 'We just topped that,'" Marshall said with a laugh Wednesday.
In 2014, the rapper threw a first pitch at a Mets game and just missed hitting a photographer.
Ruich was much more accurate. Getting the first pitch nod after being named employee of the homestand, she hit Sox photographer Darren Georgia.
"It looks like a knuckleball, but I actually thought I was right over that home plate," said Ruich, a bar server in the Stadium Club. "I though it was good. I felt good, I felt great. I don't know what happened, but something went wrong."
Ruich's throw hit Georgia's camera and the video of the wild pitch quickly went viral.
Before Wednesday's game against Kansas City, a mob of TV cameras circled the duo.
"Yeah, an overwhelming amount (of attention)," said Georgia, an intern with the White Sox. "And it's been good, I've enjoyed the whole thing. I've no hard feelings toward Mary at all. I thought the whole thing was hilarious. Her reaction, Evan's reaction, it was all fantastic."
Tracking Cease:
In his longest outing of the season Wednesday night, top pitching prospect Dylan Cease went 7 innings for Class AAA Charlotte, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks.
Cease (4-2, 3.26 ERA) also had 6 strikeouts while throwing 100 pitches.
Staying hopeful:
On the injured list with a right elbow capsule strain, relief pitcher Ryan Burr is hoping to avoid season-ending Tommy John surgery.
Burr said he started feeling discomfort pitching at Houston and Minnesota on the White Sox's last road trip.
"It wasn't something I felt before," Burr said. "So I had to have a tough conversation. It's never easy to go into the training room and tell them you are not feeling right. But I went in there and had that conversation. Kind of in a holding pattern right now. Hoping for the best, but there are just a few questions we haven't been able to answer yet."