August 28, 2009: John Hester homers in first at-bat as Diamondbacks pummel Astros

When the Houston Astros and the Arizona Diamondbacks took to the field on August 28, 2009, both teams were playing for little more than pride. With playoff dreams just distant memories, the remaining month of the season instead offered both clubs a chance to audition new talent and assess the needs of their rosters. Indeed, the Astros were three games under .500 and on their way to a final record of 74-88, a performance that represented a major drop-off from the 86-75 record they had posted in 2008. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks were 16 games under .500 en route to a final record of 70-92, a performance that could only be characterized as a great disappointment given they had gone 82-80 in 2008, finishing only two games behind the division-winning Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West.  

The announced crowd at Chase Field in Phoenix was 26,160 for the early evening start. On the mound for the Astros was Yorman Bazardo, a 25-year-old right-hander who had logged just 10 innings with the Astros and was making only his second start after having spent most of the year pitching for the Astros’ Triple-A club in Round Rock, Texas, in the Pacific Coast League. The Diamondbacks countered with Max Scherzer, a 25-year-old right-hander who had debuted the previous season. The future All-Star and multiple Cy Young Award winner earned a regular spot in the rotation in 2009 and came into the game with a record of 7-8.

Scherzer got off to a slow start, walking the first two Astros he faced and yielding a double to deep center field by Lance Berkman, scoring both runners. Luckily for Scherzer, Berkman was cut down trying to stretch it to a triple. With the damage done, Scherzer avoided further trouble by getting Carlos Lee on an infield popup and Miguel Tejada on a fly to center. 

Bazardo fared no better in the bottom of the first. After a walk to leadoff batter Stephen Drew, singles by Ryan Roberts and Justin Upton loaded the bases with nobody out. A walk to Mark Reynolds brought in the first run, and while Bazardo got Miguel Montero to hit into a 4-6-3 double play, Roberts scored with the tying run. Gerardo Parra grounded to second to end the inning.  

Scherzer retired the Diamondbacks in order in the top of the second. In the bottom half, Brandon Allen hit a groundball single to right to lead off the inning, but the effort to move him over on a bunt by Álex Romero resulted in a force out at second. Scherzer successfully bunted Romero over to second and he scored from there on Drew’s line-drive single to right. The Diamondbacks got out of the inning when Drew was cut down at second base, caught in a rundown when he tried to advance on the throw to the plate to get Romero.

Scherzer gave up two runs in the top of the third. An error by shortstop Drew on a weakly hit groundball opened the inning and after a force out at second, Jeff Keppinger hit a home run to put the Astros up 4-3. Scherzer then seemed to settle into his rhythm and he retired the next two batters to end the inning.

The Diamondbacks turned things around in the bottom of the third, scoring seven runs on seven hits. After walking leadoff hitter Ryan Roberts, Bazardo gave up two singles and two doubles, resulting in four runs, before giving way to right-hander Wilton López. He had arrived in Phoenix less than two hours before game time and was making his major-league debut.1 Unhappily for the Astros, López fared little better on the mound, giving up a single and a three-run home run to Álex Romero before finally recording the first out of the inning on a groundout by Scherzer. López got Drew to ground out as well before giving up another hit, a single by Roberts. The inning ended when Upton struck out swinging.

Backed by a 10-4 lead, Scherzer cruised through the fourth inning, facing only four batters. Meanwhile, López went three up and three down in his half, a feat that Scherzer matched in the top of the fifth. However, in the bottom of the fifth López found himself again in trouble, but despite giving up three hits, walking one, and throwing a wild pitch, he limited the damage to one run as he got Mark Reynolds to fly out to left with the bases loaded to end the inning.  

After Scherzer took care of the first two Astros in the top of the sixth, he suddenly ran into difficulties. He hit Tejada with a pitch, then Hunter Pence belted a line drive to deep left that went for a double, driving in Tejada. Kazuo Matsui followed up with a triple down the right-field line, scoring Pence. Scherzer ended the threat by striking out Humberto Quintero. But the Astros had closed the gap to 10-6.

The Diamondbacks got those two runs back and more in their half of the sixth. Montero homered to lead off the inning. After López retired Parra on a fly ball to left center, he walked Allen. He then struck out Romero for the second out. This brought up rookie John Hester, a catcher, to pinch-hit for Scherzer. Hester had joined the Diamondbacks earlier in the day from Triple-A Reno. On a 2-and-2 pitch, Hester became the 102nd player to hit a home run in his first major-league at-bat.2 The scorcher, estimated at 420 feet to straightaway center, caromed back onto the field, where it eventually found its way to the excited rookie. Encouraged by his excited teammates, Hester took a curtain call in front of the wildly cheering crowd.3 Calling the homer a dream come true, he said, “As soon as I hit it I knew it was going to go out,” and his first reaction was “no way.” The whole experience was “so surreal.”4 Meanwhile, Hester’s debuting counterpart López got Drew to fly out to left to end the inning.

With the score now 14-6 in favor of Arizona, Leo Rosales replaced Scherzer in the seventh. Only a throwing error by Drew marred a three-up, three-down inning. Meanwhile, the Astros brought in Sammy Gervacio, who retired the three batters he faced, with two of the Diamondbacks going down on strikes.  

In the top of the eighth with two outs, Pence drove Rosales’ 1-and-0 pitch over the fence in left-center field for the game’s final run. LaTroy Hawkins relieved Gervacio in the bottom of the eighth and retired the side in order. 

With the Diamondbacks holding a commanding 14-7 lead, J.C. Gutiérrez replaced Rosales in the ninth inning to wrap things up. After retiring the first two batters, Gutiérrez gave up a single to Michael Bourn before Keppinger flied out to right field for the final out.

Scherzer improved his record to 8-8, while Bazardo took the loss, his first of the season. He finished 1-3 in what proved to be his final year in the majors. Meanwhile, Scherzer, a former first-round draft pick, finished his first full big-league season at 9-11 before being traded to the Detroit Tigers in December. There, blossoming into one of baseball’s top hurlers, he teamed with Justin Verlander to help the Tigers reach the postseason four straight seasons from 2011 to 2014, while also winning the first of his three Cy Young Awards in 2013. 

For Hester, his sparkling debut led to four seasons in the majors, two with Arizona and two more with the Los Angeles Angels. He went on to hit a total of six home runs in his career, but the first one put him among a select few in the history books.

“It’s fun to be among the members of that group,” said Hester. “Simply put, it’s a great way to start one’s career. Although it may not be the most prestigious group, it’s an accomplishment that I will remember.”5

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com.  

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ARI/ARI200908280.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2009/B08280ARI2009.htm

Photo credit: John Hester, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Author telephone interview with John Hester, March 7, 2024.

2 MLB.com, Players with Home Run in First At-Bat, https://www.mlb.com/news/home-run-in-first-at-bat-c265623820.

3 Associated Press, “Hester Homers in First MLB At-Bat as D-Backs Roll,” ESPN, https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap/_/gameId/290828129; Bob McManaman, “View From the Press Box,” Arizona Republic (Phoenix), August 29, 2009.

4 Hester interview.

5 “RenoAces.com Interview with John Hester,” milb,com, January 25, 2010. https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-7964194.