Felix Hernandez congratulated Adrian Beltre on 3,000 hits in the middle of an inning
Two friends just being friends.
On Sunday, Adrian Beltre notched his 3,000th career hit in MLB. On Monday, the Rangers played the Mariners and faced Felix Hernandez on the mound. In a previous life, Beltre and Hernandez were teammates in Seattle.
While they are still friends and mess around almost every time they face off, this at-bat was slightly more poignant than their other games opposite each other.
Before he threw a pitch to Beltre, Hernandez approached Beltre and gave him a hug to congratulate him for reaching the career milestone over the weekend. It was a quick moment but meaningful in its sincerity, and it happened in the middle of the game instead of before or afterward near a dugout.
A public display of friendship between two players doesn’t usually pause a game completely, but in this case it was warranted.
Possibly the best part of the clip is the ump who at first is not having it but then relents when he realizes what is going on. Again, if there is one hug that should be allowed to happen between two players in the middle of an inning, this is probably it.
After the hug, Beltre immediately got back to business with hit 3,001 off his old friend.
