Son of former Royals pitcher made game-saving play Thursday in outfield, helped beat KC
Tom “Flash” Gordon broke into the Major Leagues with the Royals and pitched eight seasons with Kansas City.
Six days before the Royals granted him free agency in 1995, Gordon’s youngest son was born. Nick Gordon is now in the big leagues himself, after being selected in the first round of the 2014 MLB draft.
Nick Gordon is an outfielder, and on Thursday he made a huge defensive play to help the Twins beat his dad’s former team 1-0 at Kauffman Stadium.
With one out in the fourth inning, Royals left fielder Andrew Benintendi crushed a ball to right field that just missed being a home run.
“That ball,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said, “should be a home run, just about any place, any day.”
That wasn’t hyperbole. It really would have been gone in any other MLB ballpark.
Benintendi instead settled for a triple. Catcher Salvador Perez followed with a fly to center field. Gordon had time to get behind the ball as he caught it and unleashed a perfect throw to the plate to get Benintendi. That kept the Royals off the board.
Gordon’s throw sailed over the mound where dear ol’ dad once pitched, bounced and found the glove of Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers who tagged Benintendi.
“Oh, I knew it was a good throw. I was kind of watching the ball and him running at the same time,” Gordon told the Star-Tribune’s Megan Ryan. “So I was kind of seeing the play the whole time it was going. I was just kind of excited about it, anticipating, and it worked out.”
This story was originally published April 22, 2022 at 8:59 AM.
