Before the Twins and Blue Jays played a little game of baseball on Friday night, Minnesota welcomed a special guest to the stadium — Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Suni Lee.
With the 19-year-old world-class gymnast in a relative break before any major competitions, the Twins had the St. Paul native Lee come and throw out the first pitch. And you might think otherwise, Dearest Readers, but this was no ordinary first pitch.
Lee is, you know, one of the most athletic people on the planet. So instead of just throwing the ball across home plate, she did a complete front flip on her pitch windup. Why? Because she could!
Suni Lee's first pitch included a flip on the "windup" pic.twitter.com/lY302usrir
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) August 6, 2022
Oh, wait, this was the plan the whole time? And this was the equivalent of a warmup???
A look at @sunisalee_ warming up for her first pitch tonight at Target Field. She nailed it! pic.twitter.com/TLlPWw7Avs
— Dustin Morse (@morsecode) August 6, 2022
A pretty flipping for good first pitch by @sunisalee_‼️@MLB x @SIRIUSXM https://t.co/unVCtJZdhC pic.twitter.com/LUiU64w86y
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 6, 2022
Oh sweet heavens, look at that angle. Why don’t more MLB teams invite Olympians to throw out first pitches? If cool things like this happen when they’re on the mound, they have no excuse.
For what it’s worth, the Twins went on to win 6-5 with a thrilling walk-off play at the plate:
Put the ball in play, and good things happen. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/7LXJF6D2UP
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 6, 2022
Huh. Maybe Minnesota should bring Lee and her effortless front flips in more often if these are the results.
Fans loved see Lee put a customary gymnast touch on her first pitch
Greatest gymnast in the world https://t.co/wtgjNeAWfY
— SmallTownNorthernMan17 (@outdoorlife99) August 6, 2022
Queen https://t.co/ZO4slTo7If
— David Naylor (@ProfCedar) August 6, 2022
Love how she is smiling even while inverted. https://t.co/mMZLNzzbgk
— Michael Bentler (@PhoenixOpals) August 6, 2022
Soooo goooood https://t.co/6VcJETogsP
— Dawn Mitchell (@DawnAtFOX9) August 6, 2022
— Eric Thompson (@eric_j_thompson) August 6, 2022
— Stacy Knatcal ✌️ (@Stacinater47) August 6, 2022
Best wind-up pitch ever! @sunisalee_ https://t.co/5tmuwPcKJ4
— L. Rosie Grier (@RosieSeven) August 6, 2022
Everything she does is perfect👑 https://t.co/f7zM0OKhsn
— Claudia Chakamian (@C_Chakamian) August 6, 2022
— Sammi🌻 (@Mrs_Ramirez94) August 6, 2022
She’s so freaking cool https://t.co/HEjRr10478
— Sarah Fuller (@SarahFuller_27) August 6, 2022
