With the Yankees holding a big lead, they threw their catcher on the mound to finish off the game. Instead of just eating innings with fastballs, he decided to have some fun. First, he went with an ephus pitch, lobbing it in at just 56 mph. Then he called for the knuckleball, throwing up four fingers to signal the move.
His first knuckler had some decent movement, enough to get a laugh and a bit of applause. On the next pitch, he tried it again, this time with more confidence. The ball danced in just enough to saw off the hitter and produce a weak grounder to short. It wasn’t pretty, but it got the out. The pitch showed some late movement and fooled the batter just enough. He even managed to pull off back-to-back knuckleballs with different movement patterns.
The team had fun with the experiment, and the catcher clearly enjoyed showing off the unexpected pitch mix. With the game well in hand, the outing brought some lightness to the final innings while still locking in quick outs.