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The Oakland Athletics reached deep into their bag of tricks in their attempt to win the series opener at Fenway. In the seventh they called upon switch pitcher Pat Venditte to keep Oakland in the game and he pitched two excellent innings, allowing just one hit, walking none, and striking out Blake Swihart. It was particularly interesting how Venditte faced off against Swihart as the catcher is a switch hitter. Venditte indicated he was going to pitch right-handed which prompted Swihart to bat lefty, requiring a helmet change. Major League Baseball even has Official Baseball Rule 5.07(f) for Venditte: A pitcher must indicate visually to the umpire-in-chief, the batter and any runners the hand with which he intends to pitch, which may be done by wearing his glove on the other hand while touching the pitcher's plate. The pitcher is not permitted to pitch with the other hand until the batter is retired, the batter becomes a runner, the inning ends, the batter is substituted for by a pinch-hitter or the pitcher incurs an injury. In the event a pitcher switches pitching hands during an at-bat because he has suffered an injury, the pitcher may not, for the remainder of...
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Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library’s Sports Temples of Boston.