Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt threw a gem on Friday against the New York Mets, and it wasn’t even close to the most important part of his day.
After a 91-minute rain delay, Bassitt threw 7 ⅔ innings of scoreless ball before rushing back to Toronto to be with his wife who went into labor with their second child.
"Go be a Dad," Blue Jays manager John Schneider told Bassitt after he took the ball from him during the eighth inning.
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A private plane was ready to take Bassitt back to Toronto as soon as his night was over.
Bassitt, who played for the Mets during the 2022 MLB season, returned to Citi Field and allowed just three hits. The Blue Jays defeated New York, 3-0.
"With the hour and a half delay, staying locked in, a ton of things on his mind, facing his former team," Schneider said, per MLB.com. "He was completely in control of his emotions and stuff tonight. It’s one of the best performances we’ve seen out of anyone, given everything that he had going on. You just can’t say enough about him tonight."
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Bassitt stayed in the dugout for the end of the eighth inning before leaving the stadium prior to the conclusion of the game.
"There’s a lot of stress, a lot of pressure just being able to kind of get that game going and kind of get started on time so he can get home for his wife," Toronto left fielder Daulton Varsho said. "It was a pretty cool experience for him to be able to do that and then be able to go experience having his second kid."
Bassitt is 6-4 on the year with an ERA of 3.41 as Toronto moved to 31-27 on the season with the win.
For the Mets, the loss snapped a three-game winning streak. Justin Verlander got the start for New York and threw 117 pitches, the most pitches in a single game for Verlander since 2019.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
