Pitch’s “Beanball” focus on Al’s precarious position on the team. While Frank wants to fire Al, Al’s a lot more cunning then he seems. He seeks out a major shareholder to take his side. At the same time, the Padres get into a heated, rough game with the Cardinals and Ginny’s ex just happens to be the catcher.

Will Al Be Fired?

Pitch’s “Beanball” begins with Buck, the assistant manager, managing his very first Padres game after he replaced the manager Al. Ginny’s up at bat. Pitch then flashes back seven hours earlier when Mike and Ginny’s agent, Amelia, hooked up and agree to keep things quiet.

Meanwhile, Frank, The Padre’s owner, asks Buck how he feels about potentially replacing Al. At the same time, Tommy, the pitcher Ginny replaced, announces that he can play again. So either he or Ginny will have to go back to the minors.

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So, Tommy starts practicing while Al and Buck talk about Al’s managing job. Al says he doesn’t plan on letting the administration take his job from him, but Oscar, the general manager, is facing increasing pressure to fire him.

Things then go from bad to worse with Al. He gets into a pointless argument with the umpire before the game even starts. The umpire kicks him out and Al tells Buck the game is his.

Al then sets up a fancy dinner for two in the locker room and watches the game inside. He ends up eating and watching the game with a woman named Maxine, who is a major shareholder in the team’s corporate parent and has a lot of influence on the team.

At the same time, Oscar overhears Maxine telling Al that she can’t get him his job back. Oscar’s been working hard to save Al’s job though, and he even lies to Frank and says he hasn’t seen Maxine.

Al does his best to convince Maxine to keep him, though. He says Ginny will be blamed for him losing his job, and they don’t want that. Ginny’s faced enough hate. Maxine should let him stay for the year and he’ll retire if she still wants him gone then.

Why Won’t Ginny Date Players?

Pitch flashes back to Ginny hanging out with Blip and Evelyn at a bar. A catcher named Trevor asks Ginny on a date, but she says she doesn’t date players. Trevor is nothing if not persistent. They eventually go on a date, but Ginny says it’s not a real date because she’s paying for herself. Ginny explains how hard it is to be seen as just a ballplayer. He tells her that he’s quitting baseball and is going to get his degree because he doesn’t want to stay in the minors for the rest of his life, so Ginny reconsiders dating him. She lets him pay and they end up hooking up. She makes him swear to keep it a secret, though.

Later, the two go on a golfing date together. It gets super flirty and Trevor says he wants to be public about their relationship. At first Ginny says no, but she changes her mind and winds up going to watch one of Trevor’s games.

After the game, Trevor tells her that he was traded to the Cardinals. Turns out they’d be scouting him and he was thinking about staying with baseball for a while. He lied about going to college so he could date her and play baseball. She’s pissed and he doesn’t get it, so she storms away.

Eventually, word gets out that Ginny dated a player. And other players give her a lot of shit for it. They joke that dating her will get them traded like Trevor. This kind of treatment was exactly why she had her rule about dating players.


The Big Game

In the present, Ginny winds up pitching at the game. While they’re playing, Oscar’s daughter Daniela, Blip’s wife Evelyn, Amelia, and some corporate sponsors that want to work with Ginny watch from a box.

This game is particularly contentious because the pitcher on the other team, Falcone, plays rough. He’s the one who hurt Tommy. Mike winds up hitting a home run, though.

Ginny eventually hits Falcone with the ball in retaliation. So Falcone walks and the umpire issues warnings to both teams. Falcone’s pissed, though. “You’re next, girlfriend,” he says. Because she hit him, he gets to hit her. That’s the code.

Everyone’s freaking out over Ginny’s actions. Blip’s pissed, and Mike thinks it was the wrong move. Daniela points out that Ginny wants Falcone to hit her back, so Amelia’s freaks out that she’s going to lose her endorsement deals.

Buck and Mike want to take Ginny out, but Tommy says she earned another inning. She admits this is her first “beanball,” but she goes to bat expecting Falcone will hit her back. But then the Cardinals bring out a bigger, scarier pitcher known as the Mountain. That can’t be good.

The Mountain pitches and almost hits Ginny. Then he throws it way too far multiple times. He keeps missing the plate, and Ginny gets frustrated because it’s clear he’s missing her on purpose. She eventually yells at the catcher and accuses him of being afraid of hurting her. He takes off the mask and reveals it’s Trevor!

Ginny and Trevor are super tense. The Mountain ends up walking Ginny and she starts freaking out because they’re not treating her like any other player. She goes to yell at the pitcher for taking it too easy on her, but Trevor runs between them. She pushes him and then Tommy runs out and both teams get into an all-out fight. The umpire calls the game, but at least it looks like Ginny and Tommy are finally getting along now.

Will Al Keep His Job?

Maxine winds up going to Frank and blackmailing him. She tells him he’s being scapegoated for the company’s bad quarter. She says if he’s ousted from the company, he’ll also be ousted at the Padres. This won’t happen if he keeps Al, though.

So Frank tells Al that his job’s safe, which means poor Buck doesn’t get to be manager. Oscar, meanwhile, takes Daniela to meet her idol Ginny. Then Oscar and Daniela have a tough talk about how Oscar wouldn’t be sleeping in their guest room anymore because he and his wife are getting a divorce. Ginny, meanwhile, almost catches Mike and Amelia flirting.

Will Ginny’s Photos Come Out?

Ginny runs into Trevor again, and he winds up apologizing. He didn’t get what she was going through. But there’s a problem: He’d been hacked and the hackers have their pictures from when they were together. He tells her that her celebrity status is just going to get worse over time, so she needs to let someone in and be her friend or it will be too much for her. She needs someone new to play golf with.

Could that friend be Mike? The two talk and Mike says she was blowing him away. She asks if he plays golf. He says no, but they could still make it work.

Are you happy Al’s keeping his job? And do you think it was right for Ginny to hit Falcone?

Pitch airs on Thursday nights at 9/8c on FOX. Want more news? Like BuddyTV’s Pitch Facebook page.

(Image courtesy of Fox)

Robin Lempel

Contributing Writer, BuddyTV