Kiké Hernández mercilessly trolls himself after giving up walk-off home run
Los Angeles Dodgers utility man Kiké Hernández added another position to his résumé Tuesday night: Relief pitcher. Hernández was called upon to pitch for the Dodgers in a tight game. It didn’t go well.
With the game still tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 16th, Hernández finally got the call against the Philadelphia Phillies. Things actually started out promising as Nick Williams lined into the first out of the inning. Then, Hernández’s lack of experience got to him. He walked the next two batters and then gave up a three-run walk-off home run to Trevor Plouffe to lose the game 7-4.
Kiké Hernández sets a bad record in his relief appearance with Dodgers
In the process, Hernández set a dubious record. He became the first position player to give up a walk-off home run.
STATS LLC says that was the first time in MLB history a full-time position player allowed a walk-off home run.
— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) July 25, 2018
That might come as a surprise considering how bad position players usually perform when pitching, but most of those appearances come in blowout games. It’s rare to see a position player used as a pitcher in a tie game.
Kiké Hernández made fun of himself for his relief appearance
Hernández recognized that some might make fun of him for his pitching numbers. To get ahead of that, he beat everybody to the punch. Hernández made jokes at his own expense on pretty much every social media platform.
Welp….. I thought it’d help me in arbitration but…… it backfired! K bye! See ya tomorrow! #L
— Enrique Hernández (@kikehndez) July 25, 2018
Kike Hernandez put this on Instagram 😂 gotta love the dude’s sense of humor pic.twitter.com/knE1v6g1T5
— Corey Seidman (@CSeidmanNBCS) July 25, 2018
A post shared by Kike Hernández (@kikehndez) on Jul 24, 2018 at 11:25pm PDT
Kiké Hernández is not the only position player to pitch lately
Baseball has gone wild with using position players as pitchers this season. Forty-one position players have already taken the mound in 2018, according to Mike Axisa of CBS Sports. That’s already a single-season record. Oh, and that number was before Hernández got a shot with the Dodgers. Hours after Axisa wrote his piece, another position player got on the mound.
At least Hernández’s appearance was special. He did set a record, after all.
(Yahoo Sports MLB H/N: FTW)
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
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