Giants' Tyler Rogers Strikes Out Padres Player on Slider That Hit His Face

Tom Dierberger | Apr 5, 2024

Padres rookie Graham Pauley strikes out on a pitch in the eighth inning. / Screengrab via NBC Sports Bay Area

San Francisco Giants reliever Tyler Rogers recorded perhaps the most unique strikeout of his career Friday.

In the eighth inning of the Giants' home opener at Oracle Park, Rogers delivered an 0–2 slider to San Diego Padres rookie third baseman Graham Pauley. Pauley swung and missed—badly.

The pitch, which was released at an awkward angle due to Rogers's submarine delivery, crept higher and tighter to Pauley in the batter's box. He swung with all his might, and the pitch hit his shoulder and ricocheted off his face.

A brutal way to strike out.

Tyler Rogers struck a guy out on a slider that hit his shoulder and face 😳 pic.twitter.com/cQWN0v9qMP

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) April 5, 2024

Replays indicated that Pauley made contact with his bat and it should've been ruled a foul tip. But foul tips are not reviewable, so Pauley went down on strikes in painful fashion.

Back in April 2021, former Giants teammate Kevin Gausman predicted this would happen at some point in Rogers's career.

"You're going to hit a lefty in the face one day, and the guy's probably going to swing at it," Gausman said to Rogers, via The Athletic's Andrew Baggarly. Which is crazy to think about."

Crazy indeed.

Rogers recorded a perfect 1-2-3 eighth inning, and the Giants beat the Padres 3–2 on infielder Thairo Estrada's walk-off double in the ninth.

The Giants and Padres continue their series at 9:05 p.m. ET Saturday.