Texas held an alumni game, and 56-year-old Roger Clemens took the mound like it was 1998. His sons cheered him on, but Clemens made it clear he was there to compete. He opened with some off-speed stuff that still had life, sitting in the low 80s but getting swings and misses. Not much left in the tank, so he mixed in some curveballs and a splitter that still had bite. One dropped in perfectly at 79 MPH for a called strike, but the younger hitters eventually started figuring him out. One kid laced a single to left, another tried bunting on him, and Clemens wasn’t happy. He avoided throwing fastballs over the plate, working the edges and off-speed pitches instead.
He walked a batter, flirted with the edges a bit too much, then got into more trouble with runners on. He coaxed a grounder that should’ve been a double play, but his defenders couldn’t finish it, and three runs scored. Clemens was visibly frustrated, especially with the bunt attempt, complaining about kids bunting against what he called “grandpa.” Still, for a 56-year-old, he showed flashes of his old self, pulling a splitter out of nowhere and mixing pitches well. The alumni team went down 3-0 early, and Clemens walked off without giving up a bomb, which honestly felt like a win.