Cubs Opening Day starting pitcher Marcus Stroman became the answer to a trivia question Thursday afternoon. With a runner on second base and no outs in the top of the third inning, Stroman took a lead in the count, 1-2, against Brewers batter Christian Yelich. Then we saw the first pitch clock violation in MLB history.
Under the rule, the lead moved to 2-2, even though Stroman had not thrown another pitch.
As a reminder, MLB has implemented a pitch clock at the MLB level for the 2023 season. A pitcher has 15 seconds to throw a pitch with no runners on base and 20 seconds with at least one runner on. In this case, that means Stroman took the full 20 seconds and got an extra ball.
The foul actually got Stroman into trouble. He threw two more balls after the automatic ball to walk Yelich and put the Brewers on the field with two runners with no outs.
Stroman, however, worked his way out of trouble. He struckout Jesse Winker before walking Willy Adames to load the bases with one out. And then Stroman got the grounder he needed, giving the Cubs’ revamped center infield — Nico Hoerner moved into second with newcomer Dansby Swanson hitting short — the chance to turn around twice and end the inning. Close.
The Cubs would answer with four runs off 2021 Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes in the bottom of the third.
More importantly, at least when it comes to documenting facts for posterity, the very first MLB pitch clock offense belongs to Marcus Stroman.