Pain was the price of admission to MLB history Friday night for Cincinnati Reds center fielder TJ Friedl. The leadoff man was hit by a pitch three times in an 8-4 win over the New York Mets, tying a major-league record.
The 29-year-old Friedl was hit in the third, fifth and eighth innings, all by different Mets pitchers.
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He took a 91 mph fastball to his left forearm from lefty Sean Manaea in the third. Manaea was making his first start of the season after recovering from an oblique strain and a bone chip in his pitching elbow.
In the fifth frame, right-handed reliever Alex Carrillo drilled the 5-foot-8 Friedl with an 85 mph slider. A 91 mph sinker was the culprit in the eighth inning, and it was dealt by another Mets southpaw, Brandon Waddell.
“The lefties, it makes more sense because everything is away and I’m trying to stick my nose in there,” Friedl, a lefty himself, said postgame, via The Associated Press. “The last one, that one stung!”
That said, he didn’t need to check in with Reds athletic trainers throughout the game, and he’s planning on being in the lineup again Saturday.
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Friedl had tough luck during the series opener, which doubled as the teams’ first game back from the All-Star break, but he’s far from alone in his painful feat.
In fact, 34 hitters since 1901 — and now three this season — have shared the same experience of being hit three times in one game. On May 31, Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams got pelted by a trio of pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Colorado Rockies utility player Tyler Freeman went through the same thing on June 17 against the Nationals.
Friedl didn’t register a hit Friday versus the Mets, though he did score twice.
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Left fielder Austin Hays drove in three of the Reds’ eight runs, thanks to a pair of homers. As a team, Cincinnati went yard four times — that’s the third time the club has done so this season. Matt McLain and Tyler Stephenson joined Hays in the box score with big flies of their own, each scoring two runs.
Manaea gave up one hit, Hays’ first homer, in four innings. The Mets’ bullpen didn’t fare nearly as well against a Reds team that has now won five of its last six games.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati got an impressive seven innings and seven strikeouts from its starter, Nick Lodolo. Following a shaky first two innings, when he gave up a homer to Juan Soto and an RBI single to Jeff McNeil, Lodolo recovered by retiring 16 of the next 18 batters he faced.
Lodolo got the win, Hays led the Reds’ power-charged bats, but Friedl was Cincinnati’s unsung hero Friday night with three bases taken via hit-by-pitch.
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