Dodgers star recognizes Reds rookie Friedl’s first hit
Cincinnati Reds rookie TJ Friedl homered in his second Major League atbat, his first career hit, but it was a gesture from Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts that left him stunned Sunday.
After Friedl hit a pinch-hit homer in the sixth inning off Tony Gonsolin, Betts turned to the fan who caught the ball and asked for it back. The fan immediately threw it to Betts, who tossed it toward the Reds dugout, so Friedl could keep the memento.
When Betts returned to right field the following inning at Great American Ball Park, he handed the fan a signed bat.
“It's incredible,” Friedl said. “For him to do something like that, it's definitely just world class out of him. I want to go over there (to the Dodgers clubhouse) and just say thank you in person. Thank you is all I can really say because it means so much.”
Midway through the seventh inning, one of the Reds' clubhouse attendants told Friedl he should be thankful for Betts because he was trading a bat for the ball.
“That's when I turned around and saw Mookie running out with a bat into the outfield,” Friedl said. “Chills, honestly. For him to do that for me was incredible.”
Friedl, a 26-year-old outfielder, was called up to the Major Leagues on Saturday. He pinch-hit in the eighth inning Saturday and Betts remembered the video board announcing it was his bigleague debut.
When Betts watched Friedl's homer sail over his head, a 385-foot blast from a first-pitch fastball, he immediately recognized it was Friedl's first big-league hit.