Cardinals' Bryan Torres homers in big league debut, 11 years after first minor league appearance
CINCINNATI (AP) — Four years after considering retirement, Bryan Torres made it to the major leagues at age 28 and homered for the St. Louis Cardinals in his debut. “Eleven years to get to here,” Torres said, fighting back tears after helping the Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-1 in the opener of Saturday's doubleheader.
“I’m not a homer guy. Today, my debut, it just happened. I’ve been learning to manage the pressure.
When the heart is going too fast, you have to slow things down. I felt a little pounding in my chest today. ” Torres, who first played minor league ball in 2015, hit seventh and played left field.
With dyed blond hair and wearing thick eye black, he worked a full-count walk from Chris Paddack (0-6) in the second, singled on a cutter in the fourth, grounded out in the sixth, flied out in the seventh and homered on a 95. 2 mph fastball from Jose Franco in the ninth, driving the 2-1 pitch into the first row of the right-center field seats. “There’s not many words to describe this moment,” he said.
Cardinals fans at the game, many of them waving their shirts, kept chanting his name and three batters later induced a curtain call. “All those guys bring us some energy,” Torres said. Torres became the third Cardinals player since 1900 with multiple hits that included a home run in his debut, the first since Bobby Smith at Cincinnati on April 16, 1957.