HOUSTON – When Brock Stewart watched the final batter he faced, Brandon Belt, swing and miss at a 97 mile-per-hour fastball to end the seventh inning Wednesday, he let out all his emotions.
Stewart roared with a yell that nearly pierced through the cheering from a sold-out crowd. His head bobbed from the adrenaline rush as he took his first couple of steps off the mound following a 13-pitch scoreless inning.
There was a lot behind those yells, that moment. He worked through a three-month stint on the injured list just in time to make his first postseason roster. He was facing Toronto, one of his former teams. He went three years without pitching in professional baseball and there were days when he wasn't sure he would ever make it back.
The son of a college baseball coach, it was a moment, an inning, he visualized his entire life.
"I've been with the Dodgers in the playoffs, but not on the roster," Stewart said after the Twins swept the Jays in the wild-card series at Target Field. "I've been around the playoffs. Just to do it in the playoffs, to do it against a team I've played for, yeah, it was cool. I was locked in on each pitch, but when I saw that final swing and miss, I let it all out as you saw."
Every season there are players who seemingly come out of nowhere. Stewart was that guy for the Twins. He entered spring training as a non-roster invitee. He hadn't pitched in the majors since 2019.
He transformed into one of their most trusted arms in the bullpen. He permitted two runs in 27⅔ innings (0.65 ERA) with 39 strikeouts. The last time he was in the big leagues, he was a 91-mph sinkerballer. Now he was hitting 100 mph with his fastball.
Stewart has repeatedly said this is the most fun he's had playing baseball. Giving up virtually no runs is a part of that. The other part is off the field.