Former Red Sox Pitcher Accidentally Swallows Bug During Game
Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Jalen Beeks was briefly interrupted by an uninvited guest during the team’s 8-2 win against the Colorado Rockies on Thursday night.
The former Boston Red Sox pitcher was closing out the Diamondbacks’ victory in the bottom of the ninth when, mid-delivery, he swallowed a fly.
“Yeah, l swallowed a fly when I lifted my leg,” Beeks said, according to a report by MLB.com’s Manny Randhawa. “Never had that happen, but, you know, we got through it. We got the win. That’s the important thing.”
The 32-year-old southpaw said his initial reaction was disgust, but he quickly recovered from the unusual ordeal.
“I gagged a little bit,” Beeks said, per Randhawa. “It just took me a second, but I was fine. No big deal. Good story for later, though.”
The eighth-year pro was selected by the Red Sox in the 12th round of the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft and made his big-league debut in Boston on June 7, 2018. Beeks pitched just two games with the Red Sox before being traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in July that year in exchange for two-time All-Star pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.
The University of Arkansas product played four-plus seasons with the Rays from 2018 to 2023 (missing the 2021 campaign due to injury), before splitting the 2024 season between the Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates. Beeks signed with the Diamondbacks in March and has gone 3-1 with a 4.05 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 41 strikeouts across 46 2/3 innings pitched covering 47 games out of Arizona’s bullpen.
He finished Thursday’s outing allowing one run on two hits, with one strikeout and one fly swallowed in an inning of work.