Switch-pitcher Pat Venditte debuts against Red Sox

Pat Venditte pitched with both arms against the Red Sox. AP

By Jack Andrade

June 5, 2015

1 minute to read

Oakland Athletics switch-pitcher Pat Venditte threw scoreless seventh and eighth innings against the Red Sox Friday night in his major league debut.

The ambidextrous Venditte threw left-handed to Boston’s Brock Holt in the seventh, setting up a favorable lefty-lefty matchup and inducing a groundout to first base. Venditte then switched his dual-thumbed glove to his left hand and pitched right-handed to right-handed batters Hanley Ramirez and Mike Napoli. Ramirez hit a single but Napoli grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Yes, the man with two pitching arms also got two outs with one pitch.

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In the eighth, Venditte pitched right-handed to righties Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts, then switched his glove to his right hand to face Blake Swihart, who is a switch-hitter. Swihart came to the plate to hit right-handed against the left-handed version of Venditte, but Venditte went back to throwing right-handed and the Red Sox catcher switched to the left side.

The 30-year-old Venditte had a 1.36 earned run average in 17 games at AAA Nashville this season before finally getting a chance to show his stuff in the big leagues.