The Arizona Diamondbacks got two of their September call-ups to hit a long ball for the first time in their MLB careers on Friday in Seattle against the Mariners.
Henry Ramos hit a two-run shot in the second inning, and Seth Beer topped him with a pinch-hit solo dinger in the eighth that was his first-ever at-bat. But that offensive injection from the new D-backs was not enough to get a win in a 5-4 loss.
Ramos had previously spent 11 years in the minors before finally getting called up to the majors.
After 11 years in the minors, Henry Ramos has hit his first big league home run! pic.twitter.com/LdRrb1vGg4
— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) September 11, 2021
It didn’t take quite as long for Beer to get there, a 2018 first-round pick that was acquired from the Houston Astros in July of 2019 as a part of the Zack Greinke deal. The infielder/outfielder had just been called up earlier in the day.
First career at-bat. First career hit. First career homer.
Welcome to the show, Seth Beer. pic.twitter.com/TlsFG7TTaj
— MLB (@MLB) September 11, 2021
Despite the quick turnaround, Beer said he was able to have his mom, dad, sister, girlfriend and girlfriend’s side of the family all in the stands to see the moment. You can see in the video that Beer points up to them as he rounds third and then again after he crossed home plate.
“I look up to them and that place is just chaos up there,” Beer said with a smile. “It was just incredible.”
Beer’s family came from Georgia, needing one of the longer cross-country flights in roughly 48 hours to potentially see his debut. But, of course, they were not going to miss it.
“I’m just so happy that I got to share that with them,” Beer said.
The Beer homer cut the Mariners’ lead to one run heading into the ninth inning, but it was a 1-2-3 of swinging strikeouts for Seattle closer Drew Steckenrider.
All five runs for the Mariners came off D-backs starter Madison Bumgarner, who has cooled down significantly after a torrid seven-outing stretch coming off the injured list. He’s allowed at least four earned runs in his four starts since the stretch that saw Bumgarner drop his ERA nearly two full points from 5.73 to 4.06. All four of those games have been D-backs losses, with Bumgarner getting the L in three and his ERA now sitting at 4.66.
The left-hander said after the game that he felt he pitched better on Friday than in those three previous starts, specifically with “pretty much everything.”
Arizona’s other run came via a sacrifice fly for catcher Carson Kelly in the third inning. The D-backs will look to bounce back from their sixth straight loss on Saturday in Seattle, a 6:10 p.m. first pitch you can hear on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.