Peter Moylan’s 2007 outing started unexpectedly when he had to replace injured Braves starter Tim Hudson. Moylan, then 26 and in his second MLB season, came in cold but got unlimited warm-ups. He wasted no time, quickly recording an out and working around a couple of base runners. The highlight came with a strange double play where a confused base runner took off thinking a ball might drop, only to be thrown out after the catch. That weird sequence made Moylan the unsuspecting hero of the moment.
It got even funnier when Moylan, a reliever with no MLB hits at the time, stepped into the batter’s box to face Cubs pitcher Sean Gallagher making his debut. Moylan took some wild, heavy swings that clearly rattled Gallagher. The rookie then spiked a pitch and ended up walking Moylan, who strutted to first like a champ. Moylan returned to the mound and later hit Gallagher with a pitch, which raised tension, though it didn’t seem intentional. The umpires had issued warnings earlier, and both dugouts looked confused.
Moylan finished strong by striking out Alfonso Soriano with nasty movement on back-to-back pitches from the same arm slot. He logged a three-inning relief appearance filled with chaos, comedy, and quality pitching. And in the middle of it all, he earned his first career walk.